John Clare, the Northamptonshire peasant poet who died 150 years ago, is not getting the commemoration he deserves in Britain.

Penguin books has embarked on a programme to republish all 75 of George Simenon’s Maigret novels. Will the phlegmatic Parisian policeman captivate a new generation?

In May 2004 ten new members, including eight from central and eastern Europe, joined the European Union. Have the effects of this major expansion on the union’s capacity to define what it is been entirely positive?

Some people think you can say anything you like about priests. While others don’t. In the fourteenth century, if Chaucer was anything to go by, there wasn’t much you couldn’t say.

Those condemned to spend their lives under grey northern skies can understandably harbour deep longings for the Mediterranean. But there is little reason to think Europe’s current headaches will be cured just by knocking back a few beakers full of the warm south.