The great British giveaway
The handover of the Chagos Islands reflects a wider lack of realism in UK foreign policy
Borientalism
Madama Butterfly, Opera Ballet Flanders, Antwerp
Folly, fantasy and Britain’s defence crisis
Britain has spent scarce resources in support of the fantasy of “Global Britain”
Draining the swamp
Residents are hopeful that the mayor’s grip on Venice might at last be easing
Murders for October
Tales from the gothic to the macabre
Cleaning up the town
As cities grew, so did the need for reform and sanitation
A craven surrender
The handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius represents a mindless and unjust capitulation to a foreign power
The uneasy aftermath of the Austrian elections
Will the Austrian establishment close ranks against the Freedom Party?
Leo Varadkar is still stirring division
The former Taoiseach should have more humility
Ireland must accept the Cass Review
The Republic is ignoring the disturbing evidence about youth transition
Afrocentrism with a Labour twist
Dawn Butler’s Black History Month video was disturbing as well as weird
Gambling gifts
New reports on Labour and political donations miss the point
Will judges protect free speech for Christians?
A new case will determine whether expressing normal Christian beliefs precludes employment
When the music stopped
A reflection on the inexorable decline of arts education and the rise of knee-jerk politics and managerialism
Don’t bet on green energy
Groupthink has blinded us into backing solar and wind. Will a big short make us see sense?
A real plan for growth
A series of simple economic blunders has led to self-defeating policies that strangle any chance of prosperity for all
Death by a thousand cuts
The near-invisibility of the Proms on BBC TV is a symptom of the collapse of public service broadcasting in Britain
Calm down, dears!
Donald Trump offers no threat to Britain’s core ideological commitments and is unlikely to radically change U.S. foreign policy
Wanted: a plan to reform the NHS
No serious party can sit out the ideological battle over the remorseless rise in public spending, including on health
Eric Fogey
Dr Fogey genuinely does believe that virtually every enlightened measure of the past 200 years was a mistake
Post-truth medicine
Gender clinics offer a charade that relies on the symbols of evidence-based medicine
We need more have-yachts
The tragedy of the Bayesian highlights a wider issue about our lack of ambition
Public sector pay
Bumper pay rises for doctors and teachers are bound to result in higher inflation
The right-on, left-wing oppressors
A flaw in the design of academic studies makes the Left appear less authoritarian than the Right
“Nice” people need to read this book
How women have been hounded throughout the gender wars
The kindest of ghosts
A new history of childhood reading is a treasure
Foul play
David Peace’s new novel is about much more than football
Advertisements for themselves
Michael Craig-Martin and the sad afterlife of conceptual art
A captivating northern star
If Lise Davidsen sneezes, the opera world shuts down
Some picture-perfect restorations
What we were seeing looked as good as it would have at its premiere
Tom Stoppard’s Hampstead drama
Best not try to memorise this deceptive Connect Four of relationships — just get into the flow
Gifted children
How does one wrap a bank transfer?
Eyes on a miserly prize
It’s not just owners who are being fleeced
Athenian ambrosia
Savour a culinary renaissance in Greece
Food fit for an angel
Celebrate Michaelmas in style
