‘Armand’ commends a red bargain, and the blue bottle   Exquisite Collection Malbec 2015 First of all, a confession: I am a huge fan of wine from South America, so this month’s column is biased. Aficionados [Here we go. Ed] [...]

Mmmmm. Cheese.   On a recent trip to France, I was reminded of the virtues of serving au gratin. In a characteristically Gallic manner, it is a phrase that injects a sense of grandeur and elegance to what is in [...]

‘Thurifer’ finds himself church-crawling in Suffolk   Imposing medieval churches dominate several beautiful Suffolk villages; and these great buildings owe their existence to the lucrative wool trade. Architecturally impressive, they stand like battleships in tiny coves. I was in Lavenham [...]

Art   Georgia O’Keeffe Tate Modern until 30th October   This is Tate Modern’s first big exhibition since the opening of its new extension, the Switch House. The extra space which this provides, over and above the very popular viewing [...]

Tom Sutcliffe is laughing all the way to the blank   An article in The Observer on 21 August was headed “Poor Rudolf Bing must be spinning in his grave.” The name leapt out at me because in April 1972, [...]

Apparently the Bishop of Grantham, the Rt Revd Dr Nicholas Chamberlain, has a gentleman friend with whom he doesn’t have sex. Unless you’ve been living in a cave you know that already; but there was something very odd about the [...]

“In Place of Strife” (A Very British Revolution, ND Sept 2016) was tabled in 1969, when Harold Wilson was Prime Minister. Jim Callaghan led the opposition in Cabinet. Apologies for the slip.   In last month’s Editorial we said the [...]

From the Revd Geoffrey Squire   Sir–   One of the best moves by Catholics in recent years was surely the “Better Together” campaign – the Church of England one, that is, rather than the Scottish referendum one – for [...]

Christopher Smith still can’t see the Emperor’s new clothes, even after all these years.   It was a steaming hot summer in central London this year: humid, and frankly unpleasant. A great disgruntlement descended, and people generally became impatient and [...]

Walking the King’s Highway by Arthur Middleton   The world to come There seems little awareness of the struggle in which we are involved, or the underlying secular ways of thinking and behaving that are invading ecclesial life. The problem [...]