Alfred Brendel is not giving interviews. In fact, at the moment, he is not planning to speak to journalists ever again. One of his agents in London gives a rather good impression of his gentle, pained, central European accent: "No, no more journalists, pleez." Nevertheless, he is just embarking on his grand 70th birthday tour (which finishes in August) and, this winter, he publishes his third and most comprehensive book [...]

BBC World recently broadcast a 45-minute documentary on Northern Ireland. The producer showed a video of the programme to a friend who, after 20 minutes, asked the producer to press pause. "Just remind me," he said. "I know what the unionists want and who the republicans are. But which sides are the Catholics and the Protestants on?" This man had a first-class degree and read a broadsheet every day. But [...]

I finished this book returning from Belfast to London. The Northern Ireland Assembly had just approved the framework for devolved power. Once again, David Trimble and the bulk of the Ulster Unionists had voted with Irish nationalists and republicans. Once again, Ian Paisley and those unionists who opposed last year's multi-party agreement voted against. Immediately afterwards, Paisley rushed into the central hall of Stormont, and called Trimble a traitor. I've [...]

It is a measure of Muhammad Ali's greatness that a book this frustrating can be this good. It should be simple. You have the greatest sportsman of the century, about whom some of the sharpest American writers of the century have written. The only difficulty lies in the editing, in what to leave in or out. Yet Gerald Early begins from the wrong premise; his introduction serves as a meditation [...]