This movie is, literally, fabulous. It appears that it’s about a mythical journey. But its realism isn’t wasted. Read more ›

An amazing pair of shows in Paris have if possible made me love Matisse more than ever. The greater surprise was that Matisse was inspired by the previous generation represented by Renoir and Rodin. Read more ›

I didn’t expect it, but this last couple of months have been amongst my busiest. Some very rich people are finding time to think. Read more ›

I have spent a couple of months looking after old monks. It may surprise you to know that some of these holy old men are smelly, scruffy and sweary – just like their secular brothers. Read more ›

Years and years ago I left a monastic community as a young man. Now, I return as a middle-aged one, and I’m still one of the youngsters. This time, though I am doing the caring. Read more ›

A bright young correspondent has chided me for being a touch frivolous. Aren’t I selling myself short, he asks? Tapping this out in the main saloon of an oligarch’s yacht, for it to be winged off by satellite, I am in good condition to reflect ruefully on these remarks. Read more ›

Lots of people have been e-mailing me for advice about surviving a recession. Indeed, it’s an interesting question. I have often said how lucky people are to be well-off and in a world with rising expectations. What’s my message for a world of falling expectations? Read more ›

The good news is that I am more often being asked for spiritual guidance than for business guidance. After all, our hearts matter more than our wallets. Still, various bad things flow from this crunch, meltdown, recession – whatever. For a start, I shan’t make as much money. Besides, before the impending recession, people didn’t come to me because they were deeply, deeply fearful. Now they do. Read more ›

A memoir by novelist A M Homes, a documentary on coroner Shiya Ribowsky and the disinterment of anglo-Catholic Cardinal Newman have combined to make me ponder the business of our connection with the remains of the dead. What’s odd is that modern technology seems to make us more medieval than ever. Read more ›

Robert Harris’ thriller The Ghost is a brilliant lark. It succeeds because you could enjoy it without knowing much about Tony Blair, Cherie Blair, Anji Hunter and all the other people who have been described as the reality on which Harris has spun a fictional web. But there are some quite big gaps in Harris’s satire. Read more ›