Conservative parties may be good at winning elections but have they lost the argument?

The moments of interruption in Peretti’s stand-up reveal the constructedness of what we are watching

What if the real Brexit drama was … over a long time ago?

Sir David Hare’s new BBC drama feels small-scale when we are surrounded by far more impressive real-life spectacles

View from Oxford: the beginning of a year unlike any other

The UK’s chief website for British Muslim news sows more division than unity

Unexplained Wealth Orders reverse the burden of proof

Richard Ovenden’s new book is a passionate defence of the sanctity of knowledge expressed through literature

I’m not giving up trying to persuade younger people to listen to new composers

Our way of death has become increasingly mawkish. Far better to opt for a swift cremation, without frills or power ballads

We used to love filling our homes with possessions. Now, less is more — indeed, it’s everything

Brexit showed the ruling elite is still terrified by Trotsky’s ideas of working class upheaval

The Western powers should beware making belligerent threats they cannot back up

Douglas Murray refuses to mourn the death of the gay novel — a genre that was once ghettoised has joined the mainstream

Daniel Johnson says Spanish imperialism left a legacy defying simplistic analysis

If someone identifies something you’ve said as problematic, they mean you are the problem

Poetry has been put through the academic wringer and obfuscated by jargon

By changing the way that people speak, we will be able to fix all the bad thoughts that exist inside people’s heads

Who’s minor and who’s major reveal the power of collective prejudice

Robin Aitken’s analysis is idiosyncratic but rings true

The Captive-bred lion industry has been under fire for some time and Unfair Game will only add weight to calls for its cessation

How Soviet society, gripped by political correctness, descended into madness

‘This Sporting Life’ should be read by our managerial ruling class who dismiss what they do not understand as “populist” or “right-wing”

Adam LeBor delves into The Bureau, the utterly absorbing French spy thriller series

Christopher Silvester on the essential, and undervalued, part editors play in film and documentary creation

Anne McElvoy on writers and players who can transfer skills to the small screen from the big stage

A good Bond song should include swooning strings, stabbing horns and a chorus the size of the moon, explains Sarah Ditum

Tom Chesshyre endures some mercifully brief encounters

Christopher North advises on the best bullrings for budding aficionados

Christopher Pincher enjoys the wine list at the Travellers Club

Nick Cohen says hamfisted Covid road closures are dividing opinion