I felt New York was a big, more stylish, more metropolitan Golders Green. I was thrilled.

From the days of the Founding Fathers, right to this (2008) election, how and where America fights to defend its freedom, has been the ultimate question in its politics. The one that triggers rage and sorrow; the one that asks is the price of blood too dear? Or, if it is to stay true to its convictions, does America have no coice but to put its lives on the line?

I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.

In the end, history, especially British history with its succession of thrilling illuminations, should be, as all her most accomplished narrators have promised, not just instruction but pleasure.

Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation - but rather, for the vast majority, the adventure of living in between.

I felt New York was a big, more stylish, more metropolitan Golders Green. I was thrilled.

The next worse thing to a battle lost is a battle won.