Tom Stoppard: A private man now on parade
This biography is a testament to detailed analysis and intelligent insight, says Alexander Larman
The death of the DVD commentary
How the rise of streaming platforms has killed home entertainment
Are fictional politicians as interesting as the real thing?
Sir David Hare’s new BBC drama feels small-scale when we are surrounded by far more impressive real-life spectacles
In defence of knowledge
Richard Ovenden’s new book is a passionate defence of the sanctity of knowledge expressed through literature
The enduring appeal of Jeeves and Wooster
Ben Schott’s new novel is hugely welcome, but thankfully it will never threaten to obscure the genius of the canon
The Divine Comedy at 30
The Divine Comedy will be playing a concert at the Barbican on 14 October to celebrate Neil Hannon
Plagiarism in comedy – homage or theft?
How a hugely popular American satirical show ripped off an online British comedian
No Time for Cinema to Die
What does the postponement of the new James Bond film mean for the future of cinema?
Royal legal cases: what if Harry and Meghan lose?
The Sussexes’ legal pursuits are less the straw that broke the camel’s back and more a gesture of defiance
Why Sherlock Holmes remains the greatest detective
There is no need to make Sherlock Holmes more likeable, part of his brilliance is in his ambiguity
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The establishment is still living in an immigration fantasy land
It is influential left-wingers, not the broader public, who have deluded themselves on mass migration
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was
On Britain as a capitalist command economy
It is neither neoliberal nor socialist but a secret third thing
Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
Reform’s man in Makerfield
An interview with Rob Kenyon about online controversies and national priorities
Bonfire of the fallacies
Two opposing ideas about hard power and foreign policy — legalism and nihilism — are being exposed by the Trump
administration
Storycraft is soulcraft
A Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and heroism after disenchantment
A great tribute to a giant of the theatre
Two major revivals of Tom Stoppard’s work
A range of Stratford anecdotes
The Walliams dilemma
We’ve had enough agitslop
British TV drama has become an embarrassing display of liberal neuroses
The costs of telling the truth too late
The girl guiding decision is causing pain — so why do activists seek to prolong it?
We must save the right to smoke
Liberals must not put down the sword against paternalism
Not so good after all
Can left-leaning journalists finally acknowledge the challenges British society faces?
What does it mean to be free?
Women are caught between different experiences of freedom and loss
Britain’s next moral panic
Half a century after abandoning state-backed “treatments” for homosexuality, Britain risks replacing one coercive system with another
Sing for victory
The days when recording a novelty single was a pre-tour duty are long gone