This is a collection of Julian Barnes's writing for "The New Yorker".Since 1990, Barnes has written a regular "Letter from London" which hascovered such subjects as the Lloyd's insurance disaster, the rise andfall of Margaret Thatcher, the troubles of the Royal Family, and ofNigel Short in his battle with Gary Kasparov in the 1993 World ChessFinals. Barnes assesses Salman Rushdie's plight and the Harrodstake-over, and also analyzes the implications of being linked to thecontinent via the Channel tunnel, and Tony Blair's prospects as theLabour leader. His essays aim to provide a portrait of 1990s Britain.