William Underhill

The British press might do well to emulate Lord Justice Brian Leveson, the judge presiding over the ethics hearings following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

British director Michael Winterbottom takes Hardy's classic novel into modern-day India.

British academic Stephen Law is intent on warning people about the perils of bullshit.

Can Alex Salmond Win Independence?

Novelist Lionel Shriver likes to tackle vexing subjects—sociopaths, U.S. health care. And her readers love her for it.

Heston Blumenthal won fame and michelin stars for decidedly modern cooking. At his new restaurant, the chef conjures up the deep past.

Irish voters look sure to punish their political masters in this week's election. Polls suggest that the ruling Fianna Fáil government, widely blamed for the economic trauma of the past three years, will gain barely 15 percent of the vote, down more than 20 points from the last election in 2007.

For decades, a Swiss bank account was the favored hideaway for assets snaffled by the world's most kleptocratic leaders. The roll of dishonor includes presidents Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu of Zaire, Abacha of Nigeria, and "Baby Doc" Duvalier of Haiti.

If anyone could make "The Wizard of Oz" cool again, it's Lloyd Webber. The production will be much more than a simple transfer to the stage of the classic 1939 movie.

When the euro moves, so do British pensioners.

British trade unions have a sure touch when it comes to antagonizing the public. Drivers on London's Underground are considering strikes to coincide with the royal wedding—blighting the occasion for tens of thousands of well-wishers. Overseas visitors hoping to join Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29 may also face disappointment: British Airways cabin crews have proposed strike action around the same time.

By rights, the careless consumers of the developed world should be in a chastened mood. After all, it was their binge spending on houses and consumer goods—fueled by credit and mortgages from recklessly indulgent banks—that helped bring the world to the brink of financial disaster back in 2008.

What the cables say of the British soldier.

The demonstration was called to protest government plans to hike university tuition fees, approved yesterday by Parliament after weeks of fierce public debate. But the language and the violence suggest a wider challenge to authority from anarchists and far-left groups looking to hijack the student cause.

Julian Assange is a much-wanted man these days. The founder of WikiLeaks has plenty of enemies in high places. Start with the Swedes.

Whether the Irish bailout saves the country from ruin, one winner is already emerging. Free-market parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have dominated the country's politics for more than 60 years, but the economy's nosedive is now throwing power to the left.

For the normally passive British public, the specter of political violence is back. In early November, students clashed with police and smashed their way into Conservative Party offices to express their opposition to proposed hikes in tuition fees.

Why was cash-strapped Ireland so shy about taking aid from the European Union last week? As talk swelled of a bailout, the Irish government insisted that it had no immediate need for aid.

At university, Kate Middleton shared digs with her future husband, and since then has enjoyed a relationship as close to normal as any prospective royal can expect. For the House of Windsor, that's one huge and overdue step into the modern world.

Good news for true believers in the European Union: this week President Obama will make an appearance at an EU-U.S. meeting in Lisbon. Europhiles haven't forgotten Obama's previous blow to the bloc's prestige when Washington canceled a meeting in May: a no-show widely interpreted as a snub at a moment when Europe hoped to reinvent its global standing.

At the 2004 banquet to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, the grand Anglo-French friendship pact, Queen Elizabeth allowed herself a small example of British understatement. She told her French hosts, "Our historical relationship has not always been smooth."

Union leaders are ramping up the rhetoric, saying such things as "action is inevitable" because of the deep cuts being proposed. A campaign of protest is being coordinated by the Trades Union Congress. But the unions' concern also may take another form. How much public support do they really enjoy?

A new report declares that the U.K.'s greatest potential security threat is no longer armed conflict but cyberwarfare. The revelation could make Prime Minister David Cameron's sweeping defense cuts more palatable to voters.

Media baron Rupert Murdoch is once again setting his sights on London. His $54 billion News Corp., which already owns The Times of London and tabloid The Sun, now plans to shell out $12 billion for a full takeover of broadcaster Sky TV. If the deal happens, media analyst Claire Enders has predicted that Murdoch will control half the U.K.'s newspaper and TV markets within a decade.

From the headlines in London, you might think Prime Minister David Cameron is in trouble. When his government announced plans for a modest first cut in welfare payments last week—higher-earning taxpayers will forfeit their "child benefit" entitlements—the right-wing Daily Mail warned that the possible loss of some $30 per child per week would unleash THE FURY OF STAY-AT-HOME MUMS.

The Labour Party's new leader has perfectly good ideas. But because he looks like the union candidate, he'll probably be pummeled in the general election.

Only a year ago foreigners were ready to write off Britain. American financial guru Jim Rogers, cofounderwith George Soros of the Quantum Fund, advised the world not to put any more money in Britain. Sterling was "finished."

Britain's new leader is out to top 'Iron Lady' Thatcher.

Britain's Tony Blair has amassed $30 million since leaving office three years ago. Is he reaping his just rewards—or are he and other Labour leaders ideological sellouts?

Tony Blair hoped his apologia would rehabilitate his image, which has suffered amid various embarrassing revelations since he left office. Too bad his former aides published their books first.