“... first-century BC Roman politics: ‘Once upon a time Rome was governed by a triumvirate . . . that means three consuls etc etc,’ as Astérix explains to an understandably bemused Obélix. Uderzo’s form has not always been so poor. Some of his earlier efforts proved to be elegant sequels to the joint series, neatly in tune with the changing politics, and ...”

“... add circulation systems and the like, then cover the whole with a dramatic glass top. By these means, Foster argues, ‘new architecture can be the catalyst for the revitalisation of old buildings’: ‘The Reichstag has become a “living museum” of German history,’ he claims, and ‘the Great Court is a new kind of civic space – a cultural plaza ...”

“... an oath of allegiance to the president and to refrain from political activity; its most important means of political representation, the Centre Party, one of the mainstays of democracy under the Weimar Republic, dissolved itself on 5 July under the threat of Nazi violence and pressure from the Vatican. In return, the rights of the Church were ...”

“... of radical Liberalism rather than its negation, and could only be secured by parliamentary means. But his aloofness also derived from his background. Unlike most of the party’s senior figures, he had no direct connection to the trade union movement; indeed, he was sceptical of the value of organised labour, and uneasy when he was expected to defend ...”

“... providers, who in contrast will be nurtured into the new terrain’. On this matter at least, David Willetts, the minister responsible for higher education, has been clear: ‘The biggest lesson I have learned is that the most powerful driver of reform is to let new providers into the system.’ Note that word ‘reform’: the implication is that there ...”

“... probably be committed to housework. For people who can pay others to do that, voluntary work is a means of self-definition, a route to status, to MBE or DBE. One of several reasons why P.G. Wodehouse is rather a subversive writer is that much of his best work (he worked assiduously all his long life, and loved it) presents characters who don’t work and ...”

“... and Milan (2019). These shows, and the books that accompanied them, have been an important means of consolidating our knowledge of Antonello and appreciating the quality of his work. Only two of the books – from the Met show in New York and the more recent Palazzo Reale exhibition in Milan – are currently available in English. (It is a particular ...”

“... million marching in Hong Kong was even more significant than one million demonstrating in Beijing. David Owen warned that the involvement of the colony could be ‘very dangerous’. In early June a further demonstration damaged property and the Hong Kong riot police were sent in promptly. It was alleged, in language reminiscent of Beijing, that ‘criminal ...”

“... as far back as the 12th century. So there is nothing very modern about worrying about what it means to be modern, and even if you think that being modern requires a total rejection of the past, like Tzara or Artaud, you become dependent on the past if only because you need to have it around to reject. As Paul de Man observed in his subtle essay ...”

“... craft,’ and thus he is often ‘reduced to feeling it as an indulgence’. By craft, Josipovici means something like that of the stonemasons who built the great European cathedrals, or the way Shakespeare treated his own writing, or Bach his composing: as activities related to and requested by the community, often collaborative, artisanal or ...”

“... of painterly tact. Reviewing the New York show, Donald Judd described the combination of elite means and commonplace ends as ‘having and eating your cake’.The pies and slices drew little local attention at their first outings in Sacramento and San Francisco galleries in 1961, but the New York show was a sell-out. Gone was the muddy expressionist ...”

“... David Ben-Gurion​ , the founder of the state of Israel, was brooding, explosive, often on the verge of collapse: every obstacle he faced was a ‘catastrophe’. He dabbled in mysticism, consulted fortune-tellers, claimed to see flying saucers, and lived according to his whims. At one point he went on an unannounced holiday from his duties as prime minister to take driving lessons on the French Riviera; on another occasion, he spent a week studying Buddhism in Burma, and tried to persuade his teachers that he’d stumbled on a contradiction in their doctrine no one else had unearthed ...”

“... Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act received royal assent. It ordered a halt to the existing means for dealing with crimes committed during the conflict in Northern Ireland between the late 1960s and 1998. Criminal investigations, inquests and complaints about police conduct were to be abandoned or wound up within a few months; no new civil claims for ...”

“... speaker at this rally, supposedly organised to fly the flag of resistance to state oppression, was David Icke.Icke was a BBC sports presenter in the 1980s, smooth, bland and remarkable only for a certain glassy coldness of manner. Before that he’d been a professional footballer. At a time when Britain had a handful of TV channels, everyone knew his ...”