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" ... The web has been a brilliant, liberating and disruptive innovation. It has created opportunities for incumbents and start-ups alike.

But there is a temptation for enthusiasts to work up grand unifying theories about how the internet should be used. For the most part, these are harmless. But we should not forget that the fingers on the keyboard are still connected to humans, flawed as they are."

" ... Calculation, he [Robert Skidelsky] says, is overestimated as a guide to rational conduct. Thus he is critical of Tony Blair (a tactician with an appetite for power) and admiring of the former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, a man of principle whom Skidelsky believes could have been Conservative leader had he compromised on his support for Europe.

I am conscious that it is getting late. Skidelsky apologises. “When you get older you have a tendency to babble ... At 70, what does life hold in store?”

In fact, the professor does have plans: two books on globalisation, including a history of the Skidelsky family. The second will offer a fresh perspective on his chosen period and his own life as an outsider who, thanks to Keynes, came in from the cold."

‘Keynes: The Return of the Master’ (Allen Lane £20) is published on September 3 and is available at www.ft.com/bookshop (tel 0870 429 5884) for £16 plus p&p

Lionel Barber is editor of the FT

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Asparagus and green pea soup (cold) £7.50
Morecambe Bay potted shrimp £11.95
Grilled liver & bacon with spring onion mash £19.95
Steak & kidney pie with runner beans £17.95
Bottle of sparkling water £3.75
Sorbet x 2 £15.00
Pot of peppermint tea £3.15
Coffee £3.15

Total (including service) £92.70

" ... At the very least both should have equal weight."

' ... Shakespeare experts were intrigued by Mr Saunders' claims. Professor Kate McLuskie, the director of the Shakespeare Institute, said: "If they did find a manuscript, that would be wonderful since we have no manuscript of any of Shakespeare's plays. It would keep the Shakespeare industry going for years."

Dr William Leahy, who runs the MA programme in Shakespeare authorship studies at Brunel University, said: "We have had tombs dug up in the past and nothing was found, but we can't make a judgement until the tests have been carried out." '

" ... Where to begin? Insecure, physically and emotionally self-conscious, angry, uncomfortable in his skin – and that's just according to Lord Mandelson. Compensates for appalling technique with limpet-like tendency to remain at the crease, even when all around are screaming for his dismissal."