“... a work that has considerable respect for Puritan movements both Established and Dissenting, Donald Davie admitted in Evangelicalism an ‘openly repressive Toryism’, and added, ‘of the philistinism of the Evangelicals there can be no doubt’. It was seemingly this illib-eral philistinism that made Wordsworth, Southey, Scott, de Quincey, Byron and ...”

“... committees set up to cover specific policy areas: foreign affairs, agriculture, transport, justice, the EU budget. Committee appointments are controlled by the leaderships of the party groups – the centre right European People’s Party (EPP), centre left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ...”

“... published a pamphlet of Peter’s. I never worked out how interested he really was in poetry. Donald Hall says that he was more interested in drinking beer than in poets. How old would he have been then? Must have been in his thirties. I never thought Oscar had opinions; he would just stroke his beard and smile.Who decided on the minimalist layout for the ...”

“... well before 9/11. Chief among the neoconservative ideologues were Richard Perle (aide to Donald Rumsfeld), Paul Wolfowitz (deputy secretary of defence) and Elliott Abrams (National Security Council senior director). All of these men contributed to Present Dangers. The book was a blueprint for US foreign policy, which would be characterised by ...”

“... of Hong Kong notables to be the HKSAR’s first chief executive. Tung ran against a retired chief justice and a prominent businessman – all three were Chinese. This, clearly, was Beijing’s idea of ‘Hong Kong people running Hong Kong’. ‘Farewell to Hong Kong’s Freedom,’ the New York Times editorialised, somewhat prematurely. Dimbleby slyly ...”

“... photo spreads of his female targets weren’t so much designed to provoke outrage or a cry for justice as to grant the voyeur his pleasure. That of course is a pleasure on which the cinema industry thrives and which made these women vulnerable in the first place. Pictures from the archive of Weinstein with one smiling actress after another, his arm ...”

“... week since the vote. The Tories appear to have found their Hillary Clinton, and disposed of their Donald Trump. The real Hillary Clinton will be breathing a sigh of relief. The Labour Party, precisely because it realised that Corbyn might be contemplating the kind of pivot described above, has risen in arms to preserve its essential City connection. What will ...”