Jonathan Calder

"Unlike Blair, he was deeply and passionately engaged in the current moment. He had not fossilised his world view. He was intellectually present. He spoke clearly and trenchantly about what populism is and the threat that it poses. 'They are careless of the strife they cause,' he said. 'They trade on grievances in our society. Where ills exist, they exaggerate them. They then blame those ills on minority groups of a different race or religion. It is ugly politics that deserves no place in our country.'"

I read the first ‘Uncle' book in the British Council library in Santiago, Chile, when I was about eight and my father was working as a diplomat in the city.

Here's more grist for my theory that the Victorians were far less Victorian than we imagine.

BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award: Valerie, however, feels sorry to see it gone.

When Jill Sobule died last year, GLAAD reported: Sobule's manager, John Porter, said in a statement to media: "Jill Sobule was a force of

Malin Hay in a post on the London Review of Books blog, is a problem, because literary editors may be the worst equipped to spot text generated by

I sometimes wonder if one of the reasons the "London isn't safe" propaganda has gained such a hold is that the city has changed so much in recent decades.

Sad news on Liberal Democrat Voice this morning: Michael Meadowcroft has died at the age of 84.

Jonathan Parry's review of a new study of Bryce for the London Review of Books won two snorts and a smile from me. First snort (I have a dark sense of humour):

Last night I watched Quatermass II on Talking Pictures TV – it's currently on the stations catch-up service TPTV Encore In the clip above you can