“... him. By 1770 Germany still had little to set beside the flourishing literary traditions of France, Spain, England. Goethe’s work thus came as a fulfilment of the need – the conscious expectation, even – felt by a culture which lacked the essentials of literary tradition: native masterpieces and agreed criteria.’ Only in Germany is it possible ...”

“... only Rabelais, Flann O’Brien and Spike Milligan, but also – more surprisingly – the likes of David Nobbs, Ken Dodd and Les Dawson. (The middle part of the book consists of a kind of Flaubertian dictionary, a ‘Satie A-Z’, and it’s pleasing to note that of the two Leses on offer, Les Dawson has a much longer entry than Les Six.) Satie as a Gallic ...”

“... after last-minute doubts made her abandon her wedding; from her room, she writes letters to David, the married lover she left back in England. Their affair is undone by his self-indulgence, the egoism that allows him to whisk Edith into the wings when she threatens his comfortable life at home: ‘She knew that he was a man who could not deny himself ...”

“... but the US consistently supported the Israeli position. One American participant at Camp David in 2000 later said: ‘Far too often, we functioned … as Israel’s lawyer.’ Finally, the Bush administration’s ambition to transform the Middle East is at least partly aimed at improving Israel’s strategic situation. This extraordinary generosity ...”

“... of African heritage’. Their findings paved the way for the return of 26 objects held in France to the Republic of Benin. All, including three anthropomorphic figures of Dahomean kings, had been seized in the 1890s, after the royal family of Dahomey fled a French expeditionary advance. The journey of these African magi, 130 years later, from the ...”

“... was of a Soviet Bomb, but there were arguments over the policy to be adopted towards Britain and France. And some were of the opinion that if the nuclear secret was kept from the Soviets, this would only encourage them to set out on their own. There were ethical issues too – what was the moral course of action with respect to the secrets of such terrifying ...”

“... Borderers’ and also in the Prelude and Excursion. The crisis is associated less with ‘France’ than with ‘false philosophy’ in its bearing upon both public life and personal relations. One is tempted to speculate whether – just as the matter of Annette Vallon was covered up for a hundred years – there might not also be some political ...”

“... miles south-east of Baghdad. They had been supplied, equipped and supervised by the USSR and France, were used for research in physics, chemistry and medicine, with results that were published in the open scientific literature, and had been inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation ...”

“... Before it began he had felt that English life was on the edge of a resurrection. The slaughter in France undermined his foundations. Lawrence was given, like Céline, to overstatement: ‘It would be nice if the Lord sent another flood and drowned the world,’ he wrote to Lady Ottoline. This is the sum of Carey’s quotation. But Lawrence’s letter ...”

“... read many of the same books, from the same canon of French revolutionary literature. He respected David as a painter because of his ‘revolutionary classicism’ and, in his book on The Success and Failure of Picasso, he cites Bakunin’s typically anarchist dictum that ‘the urge to destroy is also a creative urge,’ comparing it to Picasso’s ...”

“... to extend British airstrikes against Islamic State from Iraq to Syria began in November when David Cameron set out his case to Parliament in relatively decorous terms. By 2 December, when Parliament voted in favour, an older, cruder performance had emerged. One of the prime minister’s enactments back in November was the voice that accompanies TV ...”

“... has recently shown in Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of US Global Supremacy. After the Fall of France, US war planners began to consider the implications of living in a world of protected economic zones, with Europe under Hitler’s control and East Asia integrated into Japan’s Co-Prosperity Sphere – and the Soviet Union crushed between them. The ...”

“... is unique, worse than in famously imbalanced countries like Spain, Germany and Italy, as well as France, with its massive metropolitan core.Examining English history from a northern perspective helps to explain this. The determination of Westminster politicians – Liberal, Labour and Tory – to maintain the economic predominance of London and the ...”

“... After. That work made nonsense of the notion, fostered by Israel’s dynamic first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and his acolytes, that ‘Israel’s leaders sought desperately to make peace with one or all of the Arab states but the Arabs, hell-bent on the destruction of Israel, turned down these overtures and repaid this goodwill with continued ...”

“... guancia le vedovelle fan per tutta Francia. We cannot rejoice or celebrate, hearing from all over France the anguished laments of newly made widows, dressed in mourning with tear-stained cheeks. About half the poem consists of fighting: the battles, duels and jousts that had always comprised a large part of chivalric literature’s popular appeal. Ariosto’s ...”