Richard D North.

Now we seem to have the perfect story - and, yes, I rather admire Andrew Marr for describing it as such on his show this morning. There is plausibe speculation that DSK was the victim of a sting or scam worthy of the view of French politics as portrayed in Spiral. Or should we say that it might be a sting or scam worthy of  American habits, as portrayed by The Ides of March? At the level of script, narrative, theatre, thriller, or whatever, we are having a ball. Read more...

Max Mosley seems to have swept all before him and does so because his case pushes into so many corners of the matters Leveson is considering. Pace the rather silly remarks by Hugo Rifkind in  The Times (25 November 2011) it is important that we don't wrongly calibrate the media's offences. Read more...

In recent episodes of  BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme there have been interesting examples of - and some challenges to - the show's dogma. I think it is fair to say the show is crusading for something it calls "real food". But what is that? Read more...

So. You're a crook, a colleague, a swain: which of TV's top female cops do you fear or hope for? The French Berthaud of Spiral is needy, sulky. There's an element of the kittenish. The Danish Laure of The Killing is laconic and schtum to the point of surliness. Both are romantic figures. Both are richly sympathetic. Read more...

The City faces a severe test from the sort of protest centred on St Paul's. Whether it at last responds properly comes down to character, or its institutionalised cousin - professionalism. The protestors are asking The City to explain itself, and (so far as this dedicated reader of the Financial Times can see) there's been no reply. Where is The City's answer to the question: Does The City do a good job? Read more...

Mr Gervais's new comedy is not very funny. But it made me uncomfortable only because I am not sure it is proper to let Ricky Gervais pull my chain. Read more...

One doesn't expect a disaster movie to be quiet and respectable - still less that it might be engaging all the while. I'm more used to cutting my losses: thrills and tension come at the expense of what Matt Damon calls a "paranoia aesthetic", and there's usually lashings of anti-corporate, pseudo-dissident claptrap too. Read more...

The new slick version of The Debt is a pretty good thriller but I couldn't help feeling it was just the tiniest bit exploitative. It has some advantages over the original Israeli version (called Ha-hov and released in 2007). Its storyline is more richly complex. The acting is better and the scenes in which the Nazi doctor manipulates his captors are more taut. There are more thrills and spills. Read more...

The British Computer Society asked me to be one of two responders at a debate dinner featuring Trevor Phillips of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (7 November 2011). The question was: will it be possible for someone to be a full citizen without digital access? Read more...

Edward Burra is far more impressive in the flesh than in reproduction. Waldemar Januszczak got almost everything about him right, I think, in the Sunday Times, and I add only this ... Read more...