Answers

We have crossed the

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We have crossed the boundary that lies between Republic and Empire. If you ask when, the answer is that you cannot make a single stroke between day and night: the precise moment does not matter. There was no painted sign to say: ‘You are now entering Imperium.’ Yet it was a very old road and … Read more

Phil Gramm had a

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Phil Gramm had a stump speech about how his mother’s devotion kept him from being an academic failure in life. She got him into a special school that turned him around – under a government program for the children of deceased veterans. He was repeatedly asked at press conferences why he would then turn around … Read more

Why do you keep

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Why do you keep reading a book? Usually to find out what happens. Why do you give up and stop reading it? There may be lots of reasons. But often the answer is you don’t care what happens. So what makes the difference between caring and not caring? The author’s cruelty. And the reader’s sympathy…it … Read more

What if all those

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What if all those strange and unexplainable bends in history were the result of supernatural interference? At which point I asked myself, what’s the weirdest most eccentric historical phenomenon of them all? Answer:the Great British Empire. Clearly, one tiny little island could only conquer half the known world with supernatural aid. Those absurd Victorian manners … Read more

People need to take

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People need to take as much interest in other sports as they take in cricket, and that’s where we come across a vicious cycle of performance, sponsorship, recognition, jobs and TV visibility. It’s a typical chicken-and-egg story; each one is directly related to the other without an answer for what comes first. Gagan Narang