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Corona just means crown. We use the word for things that have, or seem to have, a crown. There’s a corona around the sun. There’s a corona a...

In my previous post about the strange case of the Bill Gates conspiracy theory, I talked about those curious aspects of it that are, when a...

We live in a time of conspiracy theories. Of course, most times have had their conspiracy theories. The power of anti-Semitism in the early ...

After a few weeks, I feel the trauma of the experience has receded enough for me to tell this story. It all started a little while before th...

The very people who most complain about lying politicians, seem to be the most inclined to believe their lies. Trump’s supporters, in partic...

“ One of the things that makes novels less plausible than history, I find,” says a character in Tom Stoppard’s play Night and Day , “is th...

We continue our slow climb out of lockdown here in Spain. It’s a relief, but tinged with anxiety, since there are signs of an increase in in...

These are exciting times. Three nations are competing hotly for position in the Coronavirus stakes. Italy, where I was born, led all thre...

One of the things about emerging from Lockdown is that things you once took for granted now feel special. Today, that was a visit to a be...

Académie Française Preserving a legacy. If necessary, in aspic “Don’t put your elbows on the table.” “Don’t chew with your mouth op...