So, the frenzy of the Brecon & Radnor by-election is now behind us and we can all move on. A frenzy, it has to be said, that was more apparent in the pages of the national press than it ever was here on the ground in East Radnorshire. Faced with a line-up of five of the most lack-lustre prospective MPs ever presented to voters in what was billed as a crucial by-election…

If I had been following the theatre more consistently, I would have known some weeks ago, when I was writing the previous blog, that Ivo van Hove’s theatrical realisation of Ayn Rand’s ‘The Fountainhead’ was about to hit Manchester. Ten days ago it was on stage at The Lowry, as part of the city’s International Festival…

According to an article by Fraser Nelson in the Spectator of 11 February 2017, “Just before Christmas, Sajid Javid performed a ritual he has observed twice a year throughout his adult life: he read the courtroom scene in The Fountainhead.” Nelson also reported that “As a student, Javid read the passage to his now-wife, but only once — she told him she’d have nothing more to do with him if he tried it again.” A sensible woman, obviously…