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Correspondence: Was Shakespeare Catholic?

I shall ignore the shrill personal attacks upon me in Robert Miola’s spleen-venting review of my book , The Quest for Shakespeare , in your August/September issue. I would, however, like to respond to the factual errors and seriously misleading rhetoric with which his review is peppered.In . . . . Continue Reading »

25 Aug 2008

Pearce: British Muslims�Muslims First?

In spite of the general malaise that looms over England like a malignant cloud, there are still a handful of beacon-like intellects shining forth in the darkness. One of these is Niall Ferguson, who recently wrote an article in the UK’s Daily Telegraph in which he asked his readers to imagine . . . . Continue Reading »

21 Sep 2006

English law and lesbianism

The trouble with thinking of home is that it’s not always very pleasant. At least if one is an English exile thinking of his homeland. There is an odor of decay surrounding the British body politic and a sense that the memory of a living European culture is in an advanced stage of . . . . Continue Reading »

23 Aug 2006

English history and eccentricity

The English have an amiable, if bizarre, fondness for eccentricity, especially if the eccentricity is peculiarly English. The English landscape is dotted with architectural follies, and English history is dotted with the sort of eccentric who would build them. Edith Sitwell , who was something of . . . . Continue Reading »

22 Aug 2006

England and foxhunting bans

I’m sure that many Americans were, and remain, somewhat bemused at the passions aroused in England over the subject of foxhunting . Those passions raged in the months and years leading to the ban, culminating in an enormous pro-hunt demonstration in London . The passions remain, embedded in . . . . Continue Reading »

16 Aug 2006

“The Incredibles,” “The Lord of the Rings”

Incredible as it might seem, the Disney studios are to be congratulated for their moral rectitude. Allow me to explain. Having finally succumbed to renting the DVD of the animated feature film The Incredibles , I was stunned at how good it was. I don’t mean good in the technical or artistic . . . . Continue Reading »

15 Aug 2006

Anglicanism, marriage and cohabitation

Further to my post about marriage and cohabitation , it is interesting that the subject was debated at length at a recent meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod. The bishop of Winchester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Scott-Joynt , complained that marriage was being "airbrushed" . . . . Continue Reading »

14 Aug 2006

Islam as a Religion of Peace

A friend has just sent me some photographs of a "peace" demonstration on the streets of London. It is, however, a "peace" demonstration with a difference and is most definitely not the sort of "peace" demonstration that my mind’s eye sees when it thinks of such . . . . Continue Reading »

11 Aug 2006

Cohabiting couples and marriage

Isn’t it funny how "experts" eventually discover what those with a modicum of common sense have known all along? The latest example of experts stating the obvious, having expended much time and money "proving" it, emerged from research published in the journal Demography . . . . Continue Reading »

10 Aug 2006

Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Spain

The recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Spain exposed the schizophrenic psyche of the Spanish nation. While more than a million faithful Spaniards, including King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, attended the pope’s valedictory Mass in Valencia, the country’s prime minister, Jose Luis . . . . Continue Reading »

9 Aug 2006