attacks on London, now found to have killed 56, was named as Jamal, formerly Jermaine, Lindsay, a Jamaican-born convert to Islam. The explosive they used was said to be unstable...

T he refusal of Londoners to be frightened by the bombings of 7 July has been generally impressive. It is just a shame that the spirit of fearless normality has been breached by...

on Brompton Road. When it was over, the hundreds of office workers and shoppers who had come out into the bright sunshine broke into spontaneous applause. I found myself...

A mid the ‘tributes’ showered on the late Sir Edward Heath earlier this week, there was, inevitably for a man who upset so many people, the occasional reference to his most...

but there was one, Sara Morrison, who was a good friend and an important political confidante. She was with him when he died on Sunday. Sara was robust enough to be able to...

In their hatred of this country, says Anthony Browne , the terrorists were in one sense very British: self-loathing is the national disease T he terrorist attacks of 7 July, as...

Andrew Gilligan says that some Whitehall officials fear that sending more troops to Afghanistan might be an unnecessary provocation W atching the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw...

Bruce Anderson says that it is impossible to run an effective army if soldiers are in constant fear of prosecution T he House of Lords has already been subjected to thoughtless...

Matt Price says that many down under would like to see the boorish and bragging home team take a thrashing in the Test series Sydney F irst, a macabre coincidence. The last...

Six former chiefs of the defence staff have rounded on politicians and lawyers for threatening to prosecute soldiers who are simply trying to do their best in lifeor-death...

In an interview in May Sir Edward Heath, who died this week, told Frederick Mocatta that he had no regrets I n January, as the then schoolboy editor of the Eton College...

Theresa May says that the Tory party should adopt US-style primaries for the leadership contest W hat is it about some MPs? Are they born thinking they know best, or does it...

A glory of British packaging was the Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup tin depicting a dead lion under what appeared to be a cloud of flies. If the tin was kept in a damp larder long...

The Christian sociologist David Martin tells Theo Hobson that most Muslims are peaceful, but the Koran does justify violence F orget your mental image of a sociology professor....

P.R. Whittle on the misery of being surrounded by slobs in theatres and cinemas A few months back I left a performance of Vera Drake emotionally drained. As the lights came up...

From Sue Ward Sir: I couldn’t agree more with Boris Johnson’s analysis (‘Just don’t call it war’, 16 July). The last thing we want to do is aggravate the situation. Muslim...

Sir: Boris Johnson jovially writes that he can think of ‘at least one Daily Mail columnist’ who would like to adopt Israeli-style tactics by sending in a ground-assault...

From Frederick Forsyth Sir: Amid the maelstrom of images pouring out of London these past 14 days were two in stark contrast, yet which attracted no media comment. As the...

From John Carey Sir: Stephen Schwartz’s attack on the judges of the Man Booker International Prize is based on a misapprehension (‘Literary courtesan’, 16 July). The prize is...

From the Revd Fr Daniel Hartley Sir: Your leader (‘No concessions’, 16 July) is interesting but error-strewn. You claim that contemporary Islamic theocracy has its forerunner...

From Kathy Walton Sir: Vicki Woods believes that ‘Etonians have better manners than anyone else’ (‘Why not an Etonian for Prime Minister?’, 9 July). Some years ago, along with...

From Robert Pettifer Sir: As the author of Le Tour: a History of the Tour de France 1903–2003 , Geoffrey Wheatcroft should know that Lance Armstrong’s book is called not It’s...

From Jonathan Mirsky Sir: Frank Johnson’s finger slipped in his excellent article (Shared opinion, 16 July) on liberal clichés. It was not Jerome Cohen, a leading authority on...

T he parliamentary draftsmen have yet to come up with the wording, but one thing we know already. However the government defines what it now wants to prohibit the spreading by...

S omething was missing from Marks & Spencer’s shareholders’ meeting. It was the man from the Pru, standing up to propose a vote of thanks. This used to be one of the City’s most...

I t is now exactly half a century since I first came to live permanently in London, and the summer of 1955 shines in my memory as a golden age of delight and civilisation —...

Ferdinand Mount P ARTY IN THE B LITZ : T HE E NGLISH Y EARS by Elias Canetti, translated by Michael Hofmann Harvill, £17.99, pp. 266 ISBN 1843432048 ✆ £15.99 (plus £2.25 p&p)...

Fiction : Author, Author by David Lodge, Penguin, £7.99 Fascination by William Boyd, Penguin, £7.99 The Fit by Philip Hensher, HarperPerennial, £7.99 The Finishing School by...

Tom Pocock T HE P URSUIT OF V ICTORY : T HE L IFE AND A CHIEVEMENT OF H ORATIO N ELSON by Roger Knight Allen Lane / Penguin, £30, pp. 874, ISBN 0713996196 ✆ £26 (plus £2.25...

Andrew Taylor B RANDENBURG by Henry Porter Orion, £10, pp. 437, ISBN 0752856936 T HE F OREST OF S OULS by Carla Banks HarperCollins, £18.99, pp. 372, ISBN 000719210X ✆ £16.99...

William Feaver P ATRICK C AULFIELD PAINTINGS by Marco Livingstone Lund Humphries, £35, pp. 224, ISBN 0853319170 P atrick Caulfield’s paintings look specific while giving us...

Digby Anderson O UR C ULTURE , W HAT ’ S L EFT OF I T : T HE M ANDARINS AND THE MASSES by Theodore Dalrymple Ivan R. Dee, £18.99, pp. 341, ISBN 1566636434 S pectator readers...

Anthony Sattin T HE O RIENTALIST : I N S EARCH OF A M AN C AUGHT B ETWEEEN E AST AND W EST by Tom Reiss Chatto, £17.99, pp. 433, ISBN 070117885X ✆ £15.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870...

Antonia Fraser W HY I A M S TILL A C ATHOLIC edited by Peter Stanford Continuum, £12.99, pp. 142, ISBN 0826485774 T here have been many books over the years with titles that...

John de Falbe T HE P EOPLE ’ S A CT OF L OVE by James Meek Canongate, £12.99, pp. 387, ISBN 01841956546 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T his superb novel takes place...

The cancelled games; the seaside holidays With only one short afternoon of sun; The ruined picnics or the wintry haze Of unrelenting drizzle . . . thus we run Down, like some...

Andrew Lambirth is in no doubt that the Americans come second at the Royal Academy I n the first room of the Royal Academy’s Impressionism Abroad: Boston and French Painting —...

John Spurling Corporate Culture: A History of Corporate Art Collections The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London W1, until 3 September C ollecting art is an...

Michael Tanner Rigoletto ; Mitridate Royal Opera House O f the Royal Opera’s Verdi productions of recent years, David McVicar’s seems likely to be the most durable. It evokes...

Lloyd Evans The Winter’s Tale Globe Shoreditch Madonna Soho A lousy season at the Globe so far. The Tempest is being done as a pub-theatre skit. Pericles , a tricky and...

Mark Steyn Madagascar U, selected cinemas I n my neck of the woods, Madagascar was the first drive-in movie of the summer. Me’n’the kids clambered on to the hood of the truck...

Michael Vestey T he corporate greed of the City has now spread to the BBC, judging by the BBC’s annual report, which reveals the salaries and bonuses of executives. The...

Simon Hoggart R icky Gervais has been lowering expectations about his new sitcom, Extras (BBC2, Thursday), calling it in advance ‘the disappointing follow-up to The Office ’....

Robin Oakley S ome sportsmen explode precociously into the headlines — and disappear as quickly. Some, while respected by their peers, have to graft their way through the...

Alan Judd I t’s often said that the best time to sell your convertible is during good summer weather. This may be so; or it may be one of those self-sustaining beliefs that...

Taki F ar be it from me to denounce the British for having lost interest in their heritage — they have embraced multiculturalism, deny the good their empire once brought the...

Jeremy Clarke A t Pamplona for the running of the bulls, my usual spiritual, mental and physical meltdown occurred, as usual, about the fourth day. As usual I visited that...

FRANK KEATING I t is astonishing that England have not won an Ashes Test match at Lord’s since 1934 — and that one only because Hedley Verity cornered the Aussies on a wicked,...

Dear Mary Q. With reference to the problem of middleaged women clad in low-slung jeans with thongs akimbo (25 June), perhaps a poem to cure ‘sartorial lapses’ might be more...

my neighbours. Their garden (v. small) contains a paddling pool, tricycle, trampoline, slide, bouncy ball and barbeque and the children, aged four and two, spend most of their...