The soon to retire US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has a quotation from the Greek philosopher, Thucydides (471-400 BC), sealed into the glass covering of his desk. It reads: ‘Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most’. It’s a telling phrase, emphasising Powell’s philosophical distance from the rest of the warmongering administration to which he belongs. If you google it, you’ll find numerous references to the quotation. Evidently Powell first used it in a 1993 speech to mark his retirement as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But where did Thucydides say it? According to a recent issue of the Times Literary Supplement, he didn’t. Shifra Sharlin, an American academic, has spent years trying to track the quotation down. She’s failed. Powell…

Every year we make a CD (until the turn of the century, a C90 or C100 tape) with a selection of our (OK, mostly my) favourite music released during the previous year. This year, having got a CD burner on my new iMac, I’ve done twice as many as previously. Until this year, I had to copy in real time, so making 15 copies took the best part of a week. Now I can make a copy in four minutes using Toast or i-Tunes. As I write, thirty copies have been posted, given away or put aside to be given away, and there’s one copy going spare. So the first reader to email me via this site with their address will receive the final copy…