Nick Page

A Colorado court has revoked a death sentence because the jurors took advice from the Bible, which the court defined as a ‘higher authority’. Strangely, the Bible was used to justify the death penalty rather than to argue for mercy – which only goes to show how dangerous it can be when you combine selective [...]

A few months ago I bought a pair of cheap jeans – around £4. At the time I was too excited by the price to think about what the worker actually got for them – a common attitude, probably, as this article in the Guardian points out. But it’s a big issue – how to [...]

This, I think, is the most beautiful footnote ever written: “For the enumeration of the Syrian and Arabian deities, it may be observed, that Milton has comprised in one hundred and thirty very beautiful lines the two large and learned syntagmas which Selden had composed on that abstruse subject.” Gibbon, Decline & Fall, Chap XV [...]

Spent the weekend at Ffald-y-brenin, a retreat centre in west Wales. Great scenery, great solitude and space and the chance to catch up with old friends and make some new ones – like Paul Hobbs, an artist whose website you should definitely check out. I’m always struck, at these places, at the link between physical [...]