AJP Taylor on a quiet life

Quote of the day: “Meanwhile everyone wants to breathe and nobody can breathe and many say ‘We will breathe later’.”

The Critic tries to pin down the private life of the Writer — with little success

Maggie Smith is absolutely triumphant in this memoir of a Berlin secretary in the Nazi era

Quote of the day: “Academics thrive on complexity rather than simplicity, and fail to benefit from easily grasped narratives.”