Tories and True Believers

Tories and True Believers

by | Jun 14, 2020

Small Men on the Wrong Side of History: The Decline, Fall, and Unlikely Return of Conservatism By Ed West. London: Constable, 2020. Hardcover, 426 pages, $29. Reviewed by Derek Turner The story of conservatism since 1945 has been one of failure wrapped up in frequent...
A District in Play

A District in Play

by | Jan 6, 2019

Spitalfields: The History of a Nation in a Handful of Streets by Dan Cruickshank. Random House, (2016) 2018. Paperback, 763 pages, $24 Reviewed by Derek Turner Every morning, I would be awakened by the cockerel across the road, and open the curtains to see an array of...

Notes from a Smaller, Freer Island

by | Jul 1, 2016

by Derek Turner Living on an island does strange things to souls. Being surrounded by water can even make whole nations feel they are under special protection—protected by Providence, singled out for Something. Some zephyr of open sea seems to reach to even the...

Chronicling the Conservatives

by | Mar 19, 2013

The Conservatives—A History by Robin Harris. London: Bantam Press, 2012, hb., 632pps., £30. Robin Harris brings to his account of the Conservative Party not just impressive erudition but also many years’ inside experience of how the party operates and “feels.” He is a...

Enoch Powell—Right from the start?

by | Oct 7, 2012

Enoch at 100 Edited by Greville Howard. London: Biteback, 2012, hardback, 320pp., £25. A century after his birth, the self-described “Tory anarchist” John Enoch Powell is still capable of arousing devotion or detestation. After his death in 1998, a major memorial...