The Specials

Garbo, the secret agent from Hendon

D-Day would not have been such a success without the work of an eccentric double agent

We've never needed history more than now

Its study may be declining in schools, but we are obsessed with the past and understanding it is crucial to the present

Farewell to Westminster

Britain's oldest - and oddest - private club, which has finally been forced to play by public rules

We can't just let sleeping dogs lie

It is an injustice to those who are falsely accused, both living and dead, if past secrets remain hidden

The passing of the unknown soldier

Thanks to science, there will be no more Tommy Atkins. The war dead will be buried with their names

With some effort Man created swine flu

If you abuse nature by mass-producing meat in appalling conditions, you pay the price

The idea that torture works is fiction

Subject suspects to extreme pain and they will say anything. How can we trust the ‘secrets' they reveal?

Piracy battle begins in Mogadishu

The Somali marauders have deep roots in the local ‘shifta' tradition of outlaw robber gangs

Musical politicians and bum notes

The Kim Il Sung-along is just the latest attempt by a world leader to harness the power of a good tune

Let them wear hairshirts

Summits are about conspicuous consumption. In these grim times there must be a better way

World viewed from the window ledge

Suicide rate is likely to spike as economic distress combines with the collapse of belief systems

It's not fact, but at least they did it well

The story of the making of The Great Escape is an enduring example of the way that Hollywood can twist history

We should sing louder for our heroes

We have become reluctant to elevate people to heroic status for acts of violence in distant lands

Pioneer kicked up stink 150 years ago

The Great Stench was the first public health report into the state of the nation, now it's all down to drink

The way we read as our world totters

Sales of romantic fiction, Dickens and Ayn Rand's paean to capitalism are soaring

The Pakistan badlands must be tamed

Two British imperial legacies collided on the streets of Lahore when gunmen opened fire

My turf in our green and peasant land

As the world slides into economic chaos, more people want a safe little patch of earth to cultivate

Hark, I hear the ghost of a buccaneer

The goatskin-clad figure who inspired Robinson Crusoe resonates across three centuries