Even sophisticated readers can forget the difference between literature and life

Darts is the game through which man can truly surpass himself

It’s easy to love the Christmassy Dickens. But can we deal with the brutally funny one?

I sympathise with Andrew Mitchell and other frustrated swearers. Of all our human rights, isn’t the right to be offensive among the most sacrosanct?

Don’t underestimate the sense retribution can appear to make of what is otherwise senseless

Whoever believes freedom loses its essential character the minute it admits impediment of any sort is in one sense right and in another dangerously insane

Our new Archbishop has an ancestry stocked with Jewish effort and energy

Next year, Tate Britain will hold its first major exhibition of Lowry after an extended metropolitan snobbery. What is to be gained by dismissing him as a sadist?

The popular wisdom is that we must move on. Achieve closure. When I hear the word “closure” I reach for my revolver.

Our columnist reflects on his consistently bad luck with natural disasters. Aren't we all occasionally just a whisker from a major historical event?