Chomsky: still hopeful after all these years - TO the exultant cry of “There he is!”, a faltering, grey-haired figure walked slowly across the stage to the wild...>more
Dinners leave Williams with a lot on his plate - WHAT A week for poor old Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England! After learning disgruntled priests ...>more
The banker who got it right - HE was the archetypal bank manager of decades ago – genial but tough, generous but cautious.>more
I’m blown away by Hetty’s energy on 104th birthday! - I TURNED my head in time to see her walking, almost bounding, towards me. Dressed in a stylish sharp ...>more
Hecht to kick off pianist tribute - HE’S a force of nature, though you had better not tell him that. But if you do, mention Arsenal and all will be smiles.>more
It’s a monstrous attack on Hazlitt! - THAT old devil of a writer and historian, Paul Johnson, who is 82, slyly cocked his bushy eyebrows and with a faint ...>more
Atlantic survivors are brought to life - LOOK closely and you become part of this extraordinary picture of survivors in a boat in the Atlantic being pulled up to safety.>more
Cato, and the fight to stop Hitler’s war - I MET Michael Foot on Monday who is probably one of the last people alive who sat in the gallery of the Commons 70 years ...>more
Lockerbie relatives’ fight for the truth - HEADLINES will keep on returning to the mystery of the Lockerbie bombing, I’m sure. One significant key to the mystery still ...>more
15 minutes of frame for Brian Haw? - I SHOULD have seen the link before but it wasn’t until Saturday that it fell into place. It was while watching a play at the...>more
Author Diana, 92, beats bailiffs - ONE is a 92-year-old lady, an acclaimed author to boot; the other a bailiff. Who do you think will win?>more
Ex-Strangler clears throat for songbook - AS the lead singer of punk legends The Stranglers, Paul Roberts had run-ins with the Manchester mafia... > more
A noble cause? Harry spoke of mud and misery - THE death of Harry Patch at 111 this week brought a gushing appreciation from Gordon Brown who... > more
Poole’s poetry casts cold eye over cancer - PHIL Poole has had the news we all dread. Whittington doctors found a tumour in his gullet was malignant. > more
Powerful love story behind China author - GREAT thoughts buzzed around the
bookshop Waterstones in Hampstead on Thursday evening as Martin Jacques ...>more
Prison officers leader: ‘We’re free to strike’ - IF you think a law is a bad law, should you obey it?Of all people I suppose I expected Brian Caton, leader... > more
Denis and the dodgy wartime claims - I CAN imagine what Denis Healey must have looked like when he strode on a beach in Italy as an officer during... > more
My eye op, and NHS vision for the US - I STARED into two intensely bright lights with my left eye. The lights were moving and swaying slightly from side to side.>more
Voting: we’re polls apart from politicians - HELENA Kennedy QC was on the warpath this week in what amounts to a one-woman campaign to bring... > more
Poet Walcott a ‘terrible loss’ for Oxford - IS the spectre of the poet Ted Hughes – the devil incarnate in the eyes of some feminists – abroad again?>more
Theatre company to stage a comeback - SINCE it lost its Canonbury venue in a legal dispute eight years ago, the Tower Theatre has been fighting for a home.>more
‘Legislators of world’ bang heads together! - IT wasn’t so much the event I attended on Friday that bowled me over, but the lovely 18th-century Queen Anne ...>more
Hawkish Fox hunted down by woman with ‘big story’ to tell - I WAS surprised as much as Chris Philp, Tory candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, when he ...>more
Whose ‘way of seeing’ ejection? - WHO’S right – the National Gallery or the eminent intellectual, John Berger? Last week, Berger’s account of his ejection...>more
Anita bares her Gertrude spirit - I THOUGHT Anita Harris’s Carry On days were firmly behind her – until the actress greeted me clad in little more than underwear ...>more
Meet ‘Grasp’: Stowaway beastie turns up in Kelly’s jar of olives - I’VE always been a bit partial to olives, but I’ll take a second peek next time I dig my hand into a ...>more
Silly wardens, silly fines, angry shopkeeper - IT would be a full-time job if I followed up every complaint from readers ensnared by silly parking rules.>more
White and Katz are heroes - will Obama be? - ENTERING a concert the other day I noticed two women wearing t-shirts proclaiming Barak Obama... > more
Don’t bank on a revolutionary middle class! - I MIXED with members of the middle class on Monday night – the class the police and some Cabinet... > more
Remembering the men that stood up to Mosley - HE was tall, silver-haired, a little stooped, and yet looked every inch the sort of man you’d never... > more
Mayor Boris? He’s more like a Boswell than a Johnson - FOR the past five years, ever since he decided to write a biography of Mayor Boris Johnson... > more
Perhaps if Alan tried giving the gulls a friendly smile...AS I’m a pretty reticent fellow I do my best to walk past Alan Bennett whenever I see near my offices in ...>more
Gun campaigner is still in touch with his soulful Grenada roots - I KNOW Professor Gus John for his gritty work with relatives and victims of gun violence – he recently...>more
Movie man’s explosive end - ON what would have been his 73rd birthday in November, our late film critic William Hall had his final wish granted. > more
The dangers of opening up about relationships - WHAT’S all this fuss in the tabloids over the open relationships of the actress Tilda Swinton? The fact that she is part ...>more
Monty Python star celebrates the life of Brien - THE life of Alan Brien, journalist and broadcaster was celebrated by friends and relatives... > more
Our apologies, Mr Prime Minister - APOLOGIES to those readers who noted that the man pictured as the Prime Minister of Barbados in last week’s... > more
Torture victim’s calmness is a Begg deal - SMALL, bespectacled and very articulate, it’s hard to think of torture and Moazzam Begg in the same... > more
Minister’s remarks border on old racism IT was the stretched limo and the line of women in gorgeous colourful costumes hugging the edge of the pavement ...>more
Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing? Media take note! - WHAT is the world coming to?
Two people stepped into the headlines this week whom I never thought the ...>more
Mario’s 14 hours in the ‘slammer’ was no joke - OUR boys in blue did it again at Heathrow on Monday – and held a well known stand up comic in detention ...>more
Lenkiewicz work back in the frame at new exhibition - THERE was an unusual homecoming at an art gallery on Thursday for an artist who left Hampstead to ...>more
Book launch for ex-street drinker a sober experience - FOR a reason I cannot fathom, the first time I read John Healey’s searing account of his days in jail and as...>more
Town Hall’s buffoonery even manages to choke a tribute with ‘red tape’ - THOUGHTLESS officials couldn’t have been meaner than when... > more
It’s farewell to our first citizen, Barry - SOME people, I have noticed, mark out the neighbourhood they live in and make it their domain. > more
Sir Jonathan Miller always knows how to put us in the picture - WHAT is my office coming to? Often readers drop in trying to land a story... > more
Would you believe our pergola is for the chop? - FOR three years anyone who passed the O’Sullivans’ ornate wooden pergola in their... > more
Quiet – but full of ideas - JOHN Joseph Sheehy is nothing if not prolific. The Irish artist, a former roofer who has battled homelessness... > more
Michael Foot on trail of Irish satirist and author Jonathan Swift - IT was a leather-bound collection of the radical pamphlet The Examiner that... > more
¡No pasarán! Honouring the International Brigades that stood firm against Franco -THE inscription on the side of the sculpture reads: “We came because.. > more
With the economy in rehab, Amy’s price is still fighting fit - THERE are few places that exhibit the psychosis of market economics more openly than... > more
Max Arthur meets George Bush and Debbie Moggach - I HEADED to Kensington last night (Wednesday) to enjoy a glass of wine with the members... > more
I asked Lord Bingham – Did you put it in writing? - A QUESTION I put to Britain’s most senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham, on Monday evening... > more
Annie-one recognise this boozer? | Auntie Annie's Porter House - IT’S not easy to imagine Auntie Annie’s Porter House in Kentish Town Road with...>more
Deborah Moggach, Lord Hoffman and the Heath - THE Heath is everything the countryside should be but isn’t, according to author... > more
Well-prepared for Julian’s party - JULIAN Fulbrook is a bit unusual as a politician. He’s quietly spoken, self-effacing and, as a good lawyer, can... > more
Camden - John Gulliver | Islington's new chief executive John Foster | Philip Larkin | Middlesbrough | Wakefield | Council - PARENTS, it is said... > more
Camden - John Gulliver | TV presenter Jon Snow | Julie Christie | Academy Awards | Hollywood | Tricycle Theatre - JULIE Christie is rarely known... > more
Welcomed, but the men still get a frosty reception - LATE-NIGHT summer skinny-dippers aside, the Heath Ladies’ Pond has always been man-free. So last ...>more
Omega spells out the end of an era in Gothic fashion- I RECEIVED a macabre letter recently, complete with skulls as a figurehead, informing me of the death of ...>more
Two natural-born fighters slug it out over their idea of justice - HELENA Kennedy was on home territory when she chaired a debate in Glasgow on Friday evening... > more
Farewell to George, and a real local shop - TWO observations sprang to mind when I heard about the closure of a family-run store in York Rise, Dartmouth Park...>more
An armed copper pointed to No 11 - “JUST give a rap on the door!” suggested a heavily-armed policeman. I was standing outside No 10 Downing... > more
Rose, the outspoken educator who inspired everyone she met - IT was one of those moments when you know you are in the presence of someone... > more
Clearing out old folks’ homes is a lot easier than clearing up the scandal - WHY is the Town Hall so desperate to keep a report secret that officials have used ...>more
Aggressive’ – the best compliment a journo can get“ - YOU are the worst journalist I have ever met. The most aggressive man I have ever met in my life.” With a...>more
Picasso’s science and art in perfect harmony - I THOUGHT Banksy started it all, but this week I discovered Picasso also liked to turn a wall into a canvas. Professor ...>more
The Charmer deserved more in old age- A COLLEAGUE was sitting next to the veteran Sunday Times reporter Brian Glanville at the Spurs game against ...>more
Like a Watchtower, Dr Miller? I KNOW exactly how writer Alan Bennett must have felt when he heard a Jehovah Witnesses blitz hitting his Camden Town street.>more
Newsreader Richard is a Young One again - ONE of the original cast members from a Cliff Richard film has reprised his role 46 years later for a Highgate theatre...>more
Illtyd’s date with 007 - OUR literary editor Illtyd Harrington was enjoying a spot of classical music at his London home on Friday morning when the phone rang. > more
Through the drizzle, signs of victory on the horizon - HEAD down and umbrella high against the heavy rain, I made my way across the soaked grass and muddy... > more
Welcoming home the painter Prodigal Son - I DON’T recall ever beginning a story like this before, but I feel I am being pretty accurate when I sum up a new... > more
A bloody reminder of war - HE stood in his white cassock, his shoes slightly sinking into the tree bark laid like a carpet in front of the Cenotaph. > more
Gordon Bennett! His works are finally being appreciated - READERS may recall a story I featured a few months ago about the sale of 500 paintings by... > more
Alan Coren’s last laugh in Camden Town - ALAN Coren, the brilliant humourist and broadcaster, who died last Friday aged 69, is, I now discover... > more
The Wonder of a bond that forged a love less ordinary - IF love endures you can find it in two plain benches that stand side by side in a leafy square in Bloomsbury.>more
The grim face of a bidder at an auction - AS his glasses slipped to the end of his nose, he looked anxious. > more
Inmate art after brush with the law - ART by prisoners – some of them serving long sentences – is becoming the rage among collectors, I hear.The latest exhibition...>more
Edinburgh was worth waiting for - ANOTHER confession: I have always been a bit of a late developer. How else can I explain why I never went to the Edinburgh ...>more
Whittington could be A&E casualty - HAS the Whittington hospital been put at risk by the latest reforms proposed for the National Health Service in London? > more
‘Batman’ headteacher gets a special send-off - I RECEIVED a telephone call as I sat at my desk on Saturday afternoon wondering what the hell I was doing there... > more
An artist I should have known – the story of my Freudian slip - I WAS leaving St Bride’s Church off Fleet Street at the end of a memorial service for the famous... > more
Guilty pleasures of a Law Lord - I’VE met Law Lord Stephen Sedley several times over the years, but I never knew until I read a piece of his in the London Review... > more
Blimey! The Empire strikes back - IT was a strange moment. I felt I was witnessing something that could be described as the Empire Strikes Back! > more
Mystery art dealer bags 20 Bennett works - I HEARD a mysterious art dealer turned up at the recent auction of paintings by the Swiss Cottage artist Gordon... > more
It’s curtains for single-sex wards promised by Blair - I’M pretty sure there’s one topic that was never mentioned when Tony Blair paid a flying PR visit to... > more
Docs consider union over online ‘disaster’ - JUDY King, a cancer researcher at the Royal Free, left the High Court yesterday (Wednesday) a disappointed... > more
It’s frame and fortune for the kids from tough estates - SOMETHING happened during my journey yesterday morning (Wednesday) on the 274 bus just after... > more
Blair’s hush hush visit to say thanks to UCL staff - TONY Blair paid a sneak visit on Monday to the University College Hospital London where an operation... > more
Our doctors are sick of Hewitt’s jobs fiasco - IS health secretary Patricia Hewitt burning the candles at night to try and find jobs for an estimated 10,000... > more
Barbican bash shows winners take the bus - I BUMPED into actor Kenneth Cranham at the Barbican Library’s 25th birthday party on Monday where he was... > more
Dobbo has some advice for the Canadian health service - MY attention has been drawn to the other side of the Atlantic, where Canada’s Toronto Star... > more
Cough up, doc say Free rules - MAKING relatives of patients, doctors and nurses pay parking charges has netted the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead... > more
Miliband is Paxmanned by the littlest inquisitors - HE wasn’t on a campaign trail but it must have seemed like that when environment minister David Miliband... > more
Doctor in the house is from Poland, Greece and Italy - I HAVE discovered that the medical profession is suffering from the ‘Polish-plumber’ syndrome. > more
Style and substance which ran in this literary family - WITH the death of Jack Gaster on Monday has gone the last link with a host of great writers and literary... > more
The actor will see you now... - IT’S a part made for actor Leslie Phillips, star of Carry on Nurse. But remarkably this role comes on the NHS... > more
Burman’s dark material - HAVE you ever wondered what celebrities and politicians are really thinking as they flash their big smiles at you in the press? > more
Two unsung heroines - HEROISM is a word I would use to describe Jill Pay, a woman I have known for many years. > more
The NHS can only get better - THE National Health Service is overflowing with doctors.
No one has to wait for an operation. > more
Roberts lust for life -
AS I moved among the guests who packed the West End gallery and the tinkling glasses of champagne on Tuesday night for the opening... > more
Too hard to say ‘yes’? - HE spoke in soft broken English, a face full of pain, and the 750 strong audience at Friends Meeting House in Euston on Tuesday was... > more
Buying health with wallets instead of at the ballot box - DO I detect a whiff of rebellion among doctors, nurses and hospital staff over the mess this government is... > more
Why is star Marc Bolan still waiting for a Blue Plaque? - I’VE got a beef against the system run by English Heritage that determines who is famous enough to... > more
The day the great TS Eliot took a young poet to task - THERE were more poets to the square foot at a gathering on Tuesday than I have ever seen before. > more
I’d love to tell you what the doctors said... but I can’t - FACED with unemployment junior doctors are using raw language on their internet message board to lambast... > more
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