Jeremy Clarke goes to his first AA meeting, eats a banana and keeps quiet

The French are said to be in a bad mood but perhaps it is their press which is miserable

Since our web site went live, there has been a marked increase in the amount of junk e-mail we have been receiving. Tut tut! The barbarians are everywhere. The sending of unsolicited e-mail is a...

Kathleen Norris on how people who give up sex can exudea sense of freedom and teach something about friendship

Matthew Bigg, Reuters correspondent, finds himself the victim of ethnic rage in eastern Zaire

Gertrude Himmelfarb is grateful for computers and CD-Roms, but fears the impact of the cyberspace revolution on the life of the mind. This is an edited extract

Philosophy of history: AC Grayling surveys the essential literature from Thucydides to Popper

How many people do you know who have either (a) killed or (b) murdered people? I am not conscious of having met a murderer, although John Mortimer revealed recently that one of his best friends...

Jeremy Clarke recalls his career on drugs and a failed attempt to grow cannabis in his father's greenhouse

Will Hutton on the visceral anti-Englishness that Andrew Neil shares with his former boss