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Stephen Pollard

Jordan and Israel 'as one' over Syria and Iran attack

By Stephen Pollard, May 23, 2013

A senior Jordanian official has confirmed that the Hashemite Kingdom is allowing the Israelis to fly unmanned drones over its air space as part of the Israeli monitoring of the situation in Syria.

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Opera: Written on Skin

By Stephen Pollard, March 14, 2013

After seeing Written on Skin, I have some idea what it must have been like to have been at the premiere of Peter Grimes. Just as Britten’s opera was immediately obvious as a masterpiece — and not just of British opera —so, too, George Benjamin’s work is a league above any other new opera I have seen.

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Calcot Manor, Gloucestershire

By Stephen Pollard, March 8, 2013

It’s always fascinated me how one’s horizon’s change when you have kids.

Ask me four years ago to define paradise and I would not have come up with the idea of a hotel in the Cotswolds, let alone one that caters primarily for families. Ask me now, and I’ll give you two words: Calcot Manor.

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Instructive antisemitic comparison

By Stephen Pollard, January 29, 2013

Oh dear. I really didn't want to have to write about antisemitism again. Believe me it's not something I ever want to have to discuss. But this past week there have been two instructive episodes.

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Israel-diaspora ties get boost in UK conference

By Stephen Pollard, December 20, 2012

Some ideas are so obvious you wonder why no one thought of them before. The annual Australia Israel UK Leadership Dialogue is one of them.

Originally a meeting of Australian and Israeli leaders — defined as politicians, thinkers and journalists — the addition of UK delegates has lifted the two-day forum into a sort of Israeli Königswinter Conference.

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Settlements - the view from Jerusalem

By Stephen Pollard, December 3, 2012

I’ve been trying to find out the thinking behind the Israeli government’s announcement that it intends to build a settlement of 3000 units in E1.Speaking to various Israeli government sources, here’s my take.

29 comments

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Opera: Verdi's Otello

By Stephen Pollard, July 20, 2012

I have been spoilt by Carlos Kleiber. Nearly two decades ago, I heard him conduct Verdi’s Otello at the Royal Opera House and I know that, as long as I live, I will never hear anything that compares. The opening storm he conjured up (and yes, it was magic), when he made the orchestra sound as if the earth was opening up, was something beyond music.

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Muslim Brotherhood's win in Egypt fits Islamist plans

By Stephen Pollard, July 5, 2012

The victory of Mohamed Morsi as the new president of Egypt has not merely been greeted with equanimity in the West. It has been welcomed.

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Rooney, Hart, Walcott and the England Euro 2012 players who will never forget the Holocaust

By Stephen Pollard, June 14, 2012

It would be difficult to think of a more inappropriate venue for a PR stunt than Auschwitz. So when it was announced that the England football team, staying in Krakow for the European Championships, was to visit the death camp, there were some howls of protest.

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Prisoners voting: time to ask who governs Britain (Express)

By Stephen Pollard, May 24, 2012

My Express column on the ECHR is here: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/322045/Prisoners-voting-Time-to-ask-...

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Opera: Falstaff is a Royal Opera House must-see

By Stephen Pollard, May 18, 2012

If I could give this new production of Falstaff 50 stars, I would. Verdi’s last opera is as close to perfection as music gets, and Robert Carsen’s 1950s update does it justice. Carsen clearly loves Falstaff and wants only to share that love with the audience.

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You work harder as civil servants take summer off (Express)

By Stephen Pollard, May 16, 2012

My Express column on the civil service's 7 week 'work from home' wheeze this summer is here.

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Only a fantasist could believe in the euro now (Express)

By Stephen Pollard, May 8, 2012

My Express column on the euro, Hollande and Greece, is here.

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The flying dutchman

By Stephen Pollard, May 3, 2012

There is one reason to see this new production of Flying Dutchman. And it is a compelling reason which makes me urge you to see it.

Edward Gardner, ENO's music director, conducts his first Wagner. And he does not just make a decent stab at it - he produces some of the greatest Wagner conducting you could ever hear.

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La Boheme

By Stephen Pollard, May 3, 2012

John Copley's production of La bohème opened in 1974 and this is its 25th outing. But it can rarely have seemed fresher than with this excellent cast, and under the stunning baton of Semyon Bychkov.

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Heroic acts of a favourite villain

By Stephen Pollard, April 26, 2012

There are certain sentences which just can't be uttered. You know the sort of thing. If a politician said that most voters are idiots, he'd quickly be an ex-politician; and a rabbi who said that his shul board should stick to selling shmutters would soon be looking for a new congregation.

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