Book of the Day How English cricket disappeared This year’s Wisden chronicles and fights back against the destruction of the summer game. By Matthew Engel
Lockdown’s fragile idyll, the 10’o’clock habit, and crossing the border for Waitrose Although my NS series on Europe is having a long sleep, I have visited a foreign country six times since March:… By Matthew Engel
Can the almanack survive in the digital age? As we increasingly rely on the internet for instant information, the reference book begins to look like an artefact… By Matthew Engel
Matthew Engel’s Diary: Distractions in tough times, people in their seventies are not waiting to die, and sex and sewage In 2020 many people will become involuntary slackers. Boredom, despair and loneliness kill too. By Matthew Engel
The Lisbon lament: Britain’s oldest ally on the eve of Brexit Once a backward country in the grip of a grim dictatorship, Portugal has become a hot spot for tech… By Matthew Engel
The rise and fall of local newspapers The local newspaper, which prized truth and accountability, was once the best training ground a journalist could possibly have. By Matthew Engel
The plot against the Prime Minister Boris Johnson was parachuted into Uxbridge four years ago and has never bothered to make himself popular there. Now,… By Matthew Engel
The boy from Boree Creek: the moral and physical courage of Tim Fischer Fischer led his party through the 1990s and was deputy prime minister, before suddenly opting out to give more… By Matthew Engel
Meeting Bryan Gould, the leader Labour lost Gould’s Euroscepticism now seems prophetic, but it blighted his promising career. By Matthew Engel