There are many ways of measuring how much a country has changed. Perhaps the most unusual is the attitude to alcohol. When it comes to Pakistan this is also the most telling.

My first v...
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“Aren’t you being pedantic?” Pertie asked. “How does it matter if the invitation card says ‘Mr. and Mrs.’ or ‘Mrs. and Mr.’? And, anyway, ‘Mr...
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Why do we make a spectacle of our grief? It’s a question I ask myself each time the evening news shows bereaved widows. That they are devastated is beyond doubt but why do they have to mak...
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I have a question to ask our politicians: don’t you have better things to do than work yourselves into a froth about cheer girls? After all, you’re not 18 year olds measuring your li...
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Believe it or not, it all began with me! Last week I popped an innocent question to Praful Patel – well, maybe not that innocent but more about that later – and set the ball rolling....
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I’m not sure what we did before the email, but I doubt if reading unexpected letters was such fun.  I have a collection of correspondents who often have me in splits. And I’m no...
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My congratulations to Bhaichung Bhutia. In India it’s not just unusual, it’s extremely rare, for public figures to speak out in support of controversial issues. In fact, when that is...
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Perhaps this is self-indulgence, but I’m going to elaborate on a little footnote in history. Now that L. K. Advani has mentioned it in his memoirs and spoken of it in interviews, I feel I ...
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I’ve just returned from a weekend in London, a city I consider the most civilized in the world. But before you start spluttering into your coffee, consider carefully the adjective I’...
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Are you aware the defence services regard politicians with contempt? In Daddy’s time they used to refer to them as ‘dhoti-kurtawallahs’. Since then the Sandhurst accents might ...
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