“... on an island off the Welsh coast. Here writers live in a community paid for by a trust. They may write, they may not. They may find, or they may destroy, themselves. Each is obliged to undertake seven Main Events, a kind of DIY ordeal, under the ...”

“... a preliminary to invasion. Sovereignty does not come in platonic form, however stridently a state may assert its own or purport to acknowledge others’. What these two books are about is the other major awakening from the Platonic dream: the state which actually decides to part with some of its sovereign powers. Neil MacCormick, a distinguished ...”

“... Even older fossils have been recovered, including bones of exotic relatives of the giraffe which may date from twenty million years ago. Then there are giant hyenas, as well as bears, hippos and rhinoceroses. Greece and its islands in fact lay at a kind of crossroads for mammal evolution over millions of years, the evidence of which is entombed in the rock ...”

“... averting her daughter’s expulsion. The exact motive for Lena’s arson is unknown, although it may be a protest at her husband Bob’s recent and untimely death. Understanding the importance of making a good impression, Ella brings a ‘strategic’ box of See’s candy for Mrs Lowenstein and wears a pair of bone-coloured Italian leather ...”

“... that will be no less than the grounds for the creation of one’s own consciousness.’ The poem may be about seeing a snowy owl in one’s peripheral vision, and slowly working out what one has seen in that split second, but panning out across her oeuvre, it is clear that this is a paradigmatic moment on which Stewart plays variations. The stakes are ...”

“... was convincing’ (you could argue that a convincing pastiche is a contradiction in terms). Ormond may have found for the plaintiff on the grounds that Ashley couldn’t fulfil the role of a wife (‘the essential role of a woman in marriage’), but it is obvious from Corbett’s statements that this was never exactly what he had had in mind. For ...”

“... Portrait of a Woman, ‘La Bella’ is one of a class of pictures of handsome Venetians that may be portraits of brides, courtesans or recently married women, or may be idealised images: pin-ups not persons. Palma Vecchio’s portrait of a young man, on the other hand, while not definitely of Ariosto (although the book ...”

“... not central to an understanding of his work. There are portraits, including a fine El Greco that may or may not be of the architect; there is Bassano’s Tower of Babel, showing masons, bricklayers, plasterers and carpenters at work; there are views made by Canaletto a couple of hundred years later that show Palladio’s ...”

“... pictures in which pure colour realises its full potential. It comes to have a life of its own that may contribute very little to, even interfere with, other strands of meaning. One influence on Van Gogh’s shadow-free art was the strong, flat patterning of Japanese prints. The colours, however, are closer to those of Indian paintings in which garden parties ...”

“... threat since Hitler to the physical survival of the Jewish people’. Moderate Arab regimes may frown in public, but behind closed doors they will thank Israel: the destruction of Tehran’s nuclear programme may even strengthen the fight against nuclear proliferation and thus win praise from ‘the enthusiastic ...”

“... of time). Steve Richards – a pseudonym, no relation to the biographer of Gordon Brown – may or may not still be in hiding in Dallas; Chris Griscom has latterly retreated to her Light Institute in New Mexico. Nobody of any significance has materialised to replace them. Whatever happened to all the magicians and the ...”

“... party membership quadrupled to 100,000, heralding victory in the 2015 general election and this May’s Scottish elections. The SNP won a third term in office on a manifesto that pledged to revisit independence if there was a ‘material change’ in Scotland’s circumstances. The following month, 62 per cent of Scots voted to stay in the European ...”

“... going anywhere near that one,’ Mr Eadie replied. By any standard, a divorce is not a change that may occur ‘from time to time’: it is at the very least a repeal, and when it comes to common law, a repeal, involving a withdrawal of rights, would normally require an Act of Parliament. Under the Bill of Rights, a royal prerogative to dispense with laws ...”

“... made. But the location is England, where the remains of the day are tinged with a nostalgia that may or may not be ironic. Buses revolve around Piccadilly Circus, we glimpse the Burlington Arcade, there are boats on the Thames. Lots of cheery music on the soundtrack. This is the film’s opening sequence: ordinary life as ...”

“... if you treat people well they will respond with improved performance in whatever their occupation may be. This has remained my credo to this day ...’ ‘The chief consideration was the contacts I had built up with people – strong, enduring, worthwhile, the kind that take a long time to create. And since I was above all accustomed to working closely with ...”