“... In 2012, the SNP government announced that it was setting up a Land Reform Review Group. Last May it presented its proposals. These included transparency. In Scotland – as the sale of the Cluny estate showed – it’s still not always known who owns what. The ownership of huge tracts of Highland land is obscured by shady offshore accounts and secretive ...”

“... the Grace. Weeks beforehand I was summoned to Kostas’s office and asked about her visit. ‘She may want Dr Pepper,’ I said. A six-pack was despatched from Athens. We agreed against having the Herald Tribune delivered to her room in the morning; Isis was making major gains. The staff looked forward to her visit though few knew exactly what she did. The ...”

“... padded chair that, much like this country, isn’t quite as comfortable as it looks’. ‘This may be hard to believe, coming from a black man,’ he says, but I’ve never stolen anything. Never cheated on my taxes or at cards. Never snuck into the movies or failed to give back the extra change to a drugstore cashier indifferent to the ways of ...”

“... There’s nothing like winning, or converting a loss into a heroic and magnificent defeat, which may be winning’s equal, or its better. It’s quite the achievement of the Artist and Empire show that it conveys what so many imperial pictures originally wished to convey: the dazzle of it all, the lording it, the flashiness, the hubris, the benevolence of ...”

“... recommends Strindberg, Chekhov and Shaw as more wholesome fare. I can only conclude that he may not be very well acquainted with authors like Strindberg.’The replies are both funny and typical of the sort of thing that was said by those in charge of the arts and broadcasting to an interfering busybody who felt she was entitled to put her point of ...”

“... Iceland is the equal of England in Eckersberg ownership, as well as its superior in football. This may make Eckersberg sound as if he was anxiously peripatetic in manner; the Paris show reveals him to be always securely himself, yet frequently on the move. He was also progressive: on his return to Denmark, he became one of the first professors in Europe to ...”

“... for, partly because he doesn’t know what a drug cartel, or perhaps even competing drug cartels, may do, and partly because neither he nor anyone, except perhaps the unfortunate Wells, has any idea of who or what Chigurh is. That Moss gives Chigurh such a good run for his money (or his principles) shows how tough and resourceful he is, and makes for much ...”

“... Even better, her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was Edward VII’s official mistress. It may be more than mere chance that the role of maîtresse-en-titre to the Prince of Wales runs in the family. Tyrrel says that, as a child, Camilla not only knew about her ancestor’s liaison but regarded the story as ‘talismanic’, and loved to brag about it ...”

“... much of his later life: he fought on the White side in the Civil War. Aunt Olya’s influence may well have saved his skin when the Whites lost, but his future was secured by a deal with the Soviet secret service. By 1924, when he helped his mother and niece to get to Berlin, he was already in their pay. Beevor surmises that his tasks included recruiting ...”

“... long Arctic expedition, and a controversial spell as Governor of Van Diemen’s Land. Then, in May 1845, Franklin set off with two ships – the Erebus and the Terror – and 129 men on the voyage that would kill him. In July, the convoy was seen by two whalers, entering Lancaster Sound. Nothing more would be heard of it for 14 years. Had the ships sunk or ...”

“... Robert Mugabe’s Operation Murambatsvina (‘driving out trash’) began on 19 May. Heavily armed militia, backed by helicopters and fighter planes, swooped down on a helpless civilian population. Mugabe’s forces have bulldozed and burned his political opponents’ shacks and makeshift shops in Zimbabwe’s cities, rounding up terrified men, women and children, and piling them onto open lorries ...”

“... and ignoring them is as bad as caressing them. Almodóvar is more genial, and believes the myths may respond to friendly mockery, and could even be got to do a little work. At a wake in Volver a crowd of women hover round a young woman, who is disturbed by the sheer clustering energy of this traditional presence. A high-angle shot makes them look like a ...”

“... their 16th birthday”, we said, and let’s be strict about it. Perhaps you may even appreciate our discipline and tact. Let’s be strict, but let’s not be cruel. Give them a week. Let them have their birthday, their last birthday of that old life.’ In his seven previous novels, Graham Swift has committed himself to writing about ...”

“... tale. Putting careers and heartaches to one side, it is true that the anatomy of failure may be more culturally informative than the naming of triumphs. It must be rather shocking for Shyamalan, but his latest movie, The Happening, is one of the most interesting movies of the year, despite being one of the worst. It offers a study in what happens to ...”

“... ironically, to resolve this problem by having him introduce his daughter to a pop singer, who may help the girl to the stardom she’s always wanted. I’m sure she’ll be grateful for a whole minute or two. At a time when hard thrillers have soft hearts, or feel the need at least to pay tribute to such hearts, it’s a pleasure to see two films that ...”