“... If you live in an American swing state you may have received a copy of ‘Obsession’ in your Sunday paper. ‘Obsession’ isn’t a perfume: it’s a documentary about ‘radical Islam’s war against the West’. In the last two weeks of September, 28 million copies of the film were enclosed as an advertising supplement in 74 newspapers, including the New York Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education ...”

“... for initiating the project, shortly after Orwell’s death in 1950. The self-aggrandising Hunt may have exaggerated his own importance in the operation – possibly inventing the juicy detail that Orwell’s widow, Sonia, was wooed with the promise of meeting her favourite star, Clark Gable – but, as detailed by Daniel Leab in Orwell Subverted: The CIA ...”

“... much virgin territory. Nauman’s excursion does not take us places we have never been before. We may admire the way he finds new twists in the path, but we know that others have camped where he is heading. The pleasure is in the little tug you feel when he peels away one of the preconceptions with which we bandage together the raw material of things seen and ...”

“... organisation, which sat on its hands during dozens of atrocities. Milosevic may decide that his best course is to capitalise on the role of the bit-players – Douglas Hurd, as Deputy Chairman of NatWest Markets, for instance, whose company provided Milosevic with the revenue from the privatisation of Serbian telecoms, money which funded ...”

“... so strong, till the birds bring back their song I’d like to sleep all Winter long – but once May weakens Winter’s powers from this frostbound ground I’ll pick you ...”

“... together watching a well-worn video of When Harry Met Sally; and the second sentence means: ‘I may like crummy romantic comedies, but I’m still kind of practical.’ When rejecting a marriage proposal, by contrast, it is important always to begin ‘Dear Arnold’. This way the unwelcome gentleman will realise you don’t even know his name, so ...”

“... for any given applicant. The US government admitted one Iraqi refugee in April and one in May. Sixty-three were admitted in June. For 2007 so far, the total is 190, but even this number is misleading, since all but 17 were backlogged cases of Iraqis who fled before the war began. In the UK, 88 per cent of Iraqi asylum applications were rejected last ...”

“... equipment within the next three years. The deadline for ‘CALEA-compliance’ was 14 May 2007. And so a new industry was born, known in the trade as ‘Intelligence Support Systems’, complete with its own annual conference. If you’re in Dubai next February, drop by. Since there’s money to be made, panels cover such areas as ‘Electronic ...”

“... our deepest fantasies that the least prepossessing, the least styled, the most innocent among us may carry the power to amaze the world. That notion lies at the sentimental heart of showbusiness. Turning defeat to triumph, jeers to cheers, is a piece of schmaltz fans of transformation find irresistible, and most people with an interest in the wiles of human ...”

“... already know the book they came to shop for. If they pause and look, pick up and read, they may also buy. The product and the advertisement are bound up together. Berthold Wolpe’s 1950s Faber cover design for Le Corbusier’s ‘Modulor 2’ Two books are just out which chart the transition from essentially utilitarian, intermittently decorative ...”

“... or cure infelicities. Editorial care can express reverence for such a text; the editor’s reward may be the insights thoughtful analysis brings him or her rather than new readings discovered. The work put into a new edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, say, is not going to result in a text so different from the last that even the most careful reader will feel ...”

“... 230,000 hawk moths – but much of what accompanies the new displays comes from field trips. They may take a scientist to a distant jungle-covered mountain or to a local bog. Once there foliage is snipped, soil sampled and bugs trapped. Clips from video diaries show you the tools of the trade (light traps for moths, pitfall traps for beetles, lots of local ...”

“... surrounding biodefence in the US, Klotz and Sylvester say, only encourages nations that fear they may be potential targets of America’s ‘biodefence programme’ to embark on ‘biodefence programmes’ of their own. And so it escalates. Klotz and Sylvester argue that the biological threat from terrorists has been grossly ...”

“... at the Propaganda Ministry, where business continued. She heard about her boss’s suicide on 1 May 1945, and spent the next five years in a Russian prison camp. On her release, she returned to work in broadcasting, for Südwestrundfunk in Baden-Baden. I went to see her at her flat in Munich. She had grey hair, a brisk manner and sharp eyes behind her ...”

“... Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent (until 20 January 2019) as Hislop’s personal contribution. In May 1989 Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, was awarded record-breaking libel damages of £600,000 against Private Eye. Standing outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the decision, Hislop, the Eye’s editor, told the press that if this was ...”