“... Clint Eastwood, and the point of my description is to suggest, however sketchily, just how much may be going on in any movie that’s any good. The programme of Perez’s book is to say the same thing, but not sketchily, and across a very wide range of films; and the central argument of David Bordwell’s book is similar. Perez is interested in ‘the ...”

“... Astraea reliquit,’ he reminds his brother, quoting Ovid, ‘She’s gone, she’s fled … we may go pipe for justice.’ It’s a pity Burrow doesn’t have time to explore these conflicting associations, because the great strength of his book lies in its ability to tease out the complexities of Shakespeare’s classicism: he writes especially well on ...”

“... to ravage it, and we will not allow anybody to come near the armed forces’ projects. While it may be stretching a point to suggest that Egypt’s successive military-backed regimes have been driven by the profit motive, it is incontestable that the military’s economic interests give officers a reason to fear democratic accountability. It is difficult to ...”

“... dates of birth, current party and administrative positions, and any awards or honorary titles they may have received. There were four men and two women. Their names were unfamiliar, but we recognised their positions and titles. First on the list was the general secretary of the district party committee. He has the highest administrative rank in our ...”

“... any, underlie these actions is hard to say: the territory is stuffed with security police and it may be that Sahrawis themselves must, for their own safety, operate strictly on a need-to-know basis. The culture of intimidation is long-standing. Minurso was powerless or unwilling to do much about it, even at the height of UN activities in the territory, and ...”

“... company of a Tory MP. The arriving train was heavily congested and the unaccustomed Tory – who may or may not have been Alan Clark – recoiled from the throng revealed by the opening doors, suggesting that they might do better to walk along the platform to the restaurant car. Jeffrey Archer ...”

“... their followers do not accept, and the professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be useful to us later’. It is to the investigation of such demonic remedies that the groundbreaking work of Louise Noble and Richard Sugg is devoted. The belief that a wide range of maladies could be cured by the consumption of human remains – principally ...”

“... straight, but by dint of breathing and sighing all round and round it, to arouse in the reader who may have had a similar perception already (Heaven help him if he hasn’t!) the illusion of a solid object, made (like the ‘ghost’ at the Polytechnic) wholly out of impalpable materials, air, and the prismatic interferences of light, ingeniously focused by ...”

“... the poser and the ego-tripper from the genuine idealist who wants to do good and whose passion may be sincere. The generalisations of Lilla’s polemic elide such subtleties. In previous books he has been fastidious about the complexity of the past, and scathing about the reactionary mythologising of past golden ages; here he skates over the differences ...”

“... is a latent fear that, while hopelessly outclassed by American military power on Earth, China may find an advantage in space. Chinese officials, too, see their efforts in strategic terms. The head of the Chinese lunar programme, Ye Peijian, has described the Moon as being like the Senkaku Islands, the ownership of which is disputed between China and ...”

“... of the political class but has never manipulated the system for personal gain, though he admits he may be too insulated by privilege to have felt the need. Despite this, he can be misanthropic enough, embarking at one point on an aria of loathing for his own species:The human world seemed to him to be made up of little balls of egoistic shit, unconnected and ...”

“... counties, while also disputing that it had a uniformly depressive effect on wages. Be that as it may, the new Poor Law that was enacted in 1834 involved an attempt to apply the laws of the market more strictly to the ‘commodity’ of labour. There was to be no outdoor relief for the able-bodied; they were to be incentivised to find work by the prospect of ...”

“... that study’s a means, not an end, and aspiration’s the vehicle, not the goal, and humility may be counter-productive, and even the truth isn’t always the answer. And in the morning I breakfasted on stones. And the days went by, the days became weeks, and, knowing that patience was a virtue invaluable to a man, I waited, hourly expecting my honest ...”

“... We have both travelled: south, east, west. I go north now, quite near, where on the first of May our earth relaxes and its rivers flow: there I want nothing but to stay, and stay. I could fly further; I’ve been free for years, but don’t migrate, for always there outside in all the infinite other hemispheres there’d be more sights from which I’d ...”

“... lovers have left no room on the verso, who damply dream of gravestones and each other’s names May mine alone attract thy pensive eye! On a night like this, God help poor sailors and lovers too, and the Reverend William, who wishes it all further. As if the Mata weren’t further than ever God’s writ ran till the day before yesterday, and He outnumbered ...”