Daniel Johnson
Church, Mosque and State
‘The papal visit has revealed the new atheists’ attempt to abolish the boundary between church and state, to the detriment of the former’
High Noon for the West
“We should be under no illusions: if Israel falls, the rest of the West will be next.”
The Maestro Of His Own Fate
A fine new tribute explains why Mahler matters more than ever
Forward to the Fifties
‘There is a real danger that the new coalition will overlook the urgent need to restore the ladders of aspiration that have been wilfully kicked away since the 1960s’
Talk is Cheap: Now It’s Time for Action
David Cameron has his hands full keeping his coalition with Nick Clegg going while the country is in crisis. Is he up to the task?
Acts of God
‘It was on the road to Pisa that my family and I had our revelation of the fragility of Western civilisation’
The Merchant of Hamburg
‘Alfred Toepfer was not an ambivalent figure: he was a Nazi before, during and after the war’
The Choice
‘The British people will soon have to make a momentous choice’
Mary-Kay Wilmers
The editor-proprietor of the London Review of Books is clear about her prejudices. Not so clear is why the Arts Council should fund her magazine
Ten Years After
‘All is still to play for in this lethal game of blindfold chess’
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal