Stuart Jeffries

We all need to be let alone —not just Greta Garbo

Being alone for a space of time is a basic human need, says David Vincent, arguing eloquently that it can be the reverse of loneliness

‘Landscape’ by Caspar David Friedrich, one of the great painters of solitude
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  • A History of Solitude

    David Vincent

    Polity, pp. 336, £25

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Rod Liddle

I liked John Prescott enormously

There was a time we all looked forward to on the BBC Today programme, back in the early years of Tony Blair’s first term as Prime Minister. Late July, early August. Blair had scooted off to San Gimignano, Mandelson was probably on a yacht with an oligarch, even Campbell was away battling his weird inner demons somewhere.

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