He was rewarded by a series of declarations embodying the highest common factor, rather than the lowest common denominator, of agreement. No one, including the Italians, ruled out the possibility of entry in “non-permissive” circumstances, each of Mr Cook’s counterparts saying instead that it was “hypothetical”. Each one also pointed publicly to the dangers of [...]

His next project is a film about Wordsworth and Coleridge and the year (1798) of Lyrical Ballads, the prototypical text of English romanticism. The film, Pandemonium, will star Ian Hart as the Daffodils fan and (with luck) Robert Carlyle as the Albatross Man. Before the Oxbridge literary-critical industry throws up its hands in dismay, let [...]

Meanwhile, Andrew Motion is a generous, sensitive appreciator of other people’s poetry, passionate about reading and representing it as well as writing it. I’m sure that he will have read and enjoyed all these books.
Jo Shapcott kick-starts her beautifully cadenced third collection with a Lewis Carroll-y quote from William Carlos Williams: “What are all those [...]

For a rough working-class upbringing in Burnage read an idyllic life spent in Bermuda, bobbing round the Caribbean in a sailing boat, communing with whales and dolphins and hanging out on rainforest- rich Nevis like a character out of Alex Garland’s novel The Beach.
At least Mishka seems to be the real deal. With his sandy [...]

“The bands all knew each other, and they would compare notes on which labels treated them right,” he explains. “So it was our reputation that attracted them, through simple things such as paying them on time. It was much simpler, in terms of financing, to start the label that way, by licensing music from American [...]

To say that Gina McKee doesn’t like being interviewed is a bit like saying cats don’t enjoy swimming. Despite years in the business, she has granted only a handful of interviews, and these read more like transcriptions from some on-going courtroom defence than the usual blandly colourful lifestyle profiles Not for McKee the easy anecdotage [...]

did not accept the church’s guarantees, and wasn’t able to release him on bail We had hoped he would.”. A BRITISH couple will learn this week whether they are to be prosecuted by US authorities for leaving their two small children alone in a Florida hotel room. Jill Adam, 33, daughter of Sir Lawrence Byford, [...]

“This beleaguered community have suffered greatly at the hands of Orange fundamentalists,” he said. “and the nationalist people of Portadown have been targeted as part of a vicious sectarian campaign.”His call came as an initiative launched by the Prime Minister to try to resolve the marching crisis appeared to be heading for failure. A fresh [...]

Man’s fallen state will be illustrated by the “dark satanic mills” from “Jerusalem”.There will be an angelic chorus on a high wire 35 metres above the audience – appropriately enough, since the Romantic poet spent much of his time communing with angels and demons and hearing the voices of Biblical prophets. Blake, regarded by some [...]

Here, Joyce Walker is taking a break from serving customers portions of curried goat and steamed fish. Strains of reggae music waft out into the street.”Everyone is getting scared about the amount of shooting which is going on,” she says “You have to be so careful to go out. We are just as confused as [...]