As I recuperated from surgery, my spirits were much lifted by the memories evoked by Hilary Bradt’s article (Confessions of an 82-year-old hitchhiker, 27 April).As a hitchhiker in the 1960s and early 70s, I, like Bradt, experienced wholly positive interactions... More »
I wonder if the object (Mysterious Roman dodecahedron to go on display in Lincoln, 29 April) could be some kind of puzzle (quite apart from being a puzzle to archaeologists). Unless some Roman puzzle book survived, it seems unlikely that a puzzle object would ... More »
Bryn Austin’s “experience that the Guardian lights fires very well” could not be further from my own (‘The Guardian lights very well’: how newspaper came to aid of stranded geologist, 29 April). Any savings I make through your voucher scheme are swallowed up b... More »
It’s ironic for me that Ben Bradshaw should get a valedictory interview in the Guardian (‘I still think Tony was right on Iraq’, 29 April). At my first face-to-face meeting with him shortly after he was elected as our MP, he wrongfooted me by saying: “You don’... More »
The editorial on the Labour party’s proposals for our railway (25 April) and Tom Haines-Doran’s article on further measures (Starmer’s rail plans must only be the start. It’s full renationalisation that Britain needs, 26 April) need to address a central featur... More »
The results from local elections across England suggest that the Tories are on course to lose power to Labour when voters elect a new parliament. Sir John Curtice, the eminent pollster, set the tone by telling the BBC that he was “looking at one of the worst, ... More »
It was not an opinion poll. These were local elections about local issues. The results tell you only about where we are now, not where we might be come the autumn, or whenever it is that Rishi Sunak finally submits himself to the judgment of the country.You kn... More »
Are you, like me, struggling to get a handle on the current government’s approach to empathy? It increasingly seems to be a commodity that many Conservative MPs believe should be available to Conservative MPs only. A few weeks ago the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, ... More »
In these times of planetary polycrisis, we try to get our bearings by looking to the past. Are we perhaps in The New Cold War, as Robin Niblett, the former director of the foreign affairs thinktank Chatham House, proposes in a new book? Is this bringing us tow... More »
Saudi Arabia and Israel are America’s two most important Middle East allies, and the Biden administration is deeply involved with both today, trying to forge a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia and help Israel in its conflicts with Hamas and Iran. But th... More »
“Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Lately, I’ve been seeing people repeat Ronald Reagan’s famous question, many of them apparently believing that they’re making a slam-dunk case for returning Donald Trump to power.Yet if you take the question l... More »
These days, I think a lot about Donald Trump. When the monthly economic reports come out, I think: Will this help elect Donald Trump? And, I confess, I’ve started to ask myself the same question when I look at the current unrest on American college campuses ov... More »