For all its terrible faults, in one sense America is still the last, best hope of mankind, because it spells out so vividly the kind of happiness that most people actually want, regardless of what they are told they ought to want.

It's true that I'm taking a break from writing a regular column to do other things but it's got nothing to do with what dear Simon has or has not written.

I hate churches, all of them. But they used to know something about the importance of silence.

If life was what you made of it, then it could not be made for you.

One of the unsung freedoms that go with a free press is the freedom not to read it.

No constitution is or can be perfectly symmetrical, what it can and must be is generally accepted as both fair and usable.

All the research shows that being married, with all its ups and downs, is by far the most effective way of making young men law-abiding and giving them a sense of purpose and self-worth.