Life is so unfair. First of all, the wrong people have all the money. Secondly, things always happen in the wrong sequence. I have a ton of university work to do. My colleagues are (rightly) clamouring for the delivery of various documents. And then Amazon delivers this.

Hugh Trevor-Roper has always fascinated me. I think his book The Last Days of Hitler is a masterpiece, and I have always enjoyed his malicious, right-wing journalism. T-R was about as politically-incorrect as it was possible to be. So this collection of his letters to Bernard Berenson (beautifully edited by Richard Davenport-Hines) is, for me, as pots of honey were to Winnie the Pooh. But I don’t have the time for it (so I keep telling myself) and so am rationing myself to a few letters at a time, during coffee-breaks from real work. As a result, my caffeine intake has risen alarmingly and I have developed the shakes. Bah!