What the Dickens
Spin-offs are all very well, but can’t we have the real thing?
Between the cerebral and the warm
University Challenge host Bamber Gascoigne was the quintessential Englishman
Sock it to ‘em
Omicron-cancelled events and surprised marionettes
Blackwell’s: an undesirable new chapter?
The sale of the bookshop is not a good omen for the book industry
What might have been: an alternative Boris interview
Extreme wealth, Netflix fame, and a completed Shakespeare biography
A fond farewell to Barry Cryer
His death is a loss for the English comic tradition
All mouth, no trousers?
Kenneth Branagh does seem to like taking his clothes off
The rise of meta-horror
In 2022, a new Scream film must face down more than monsters
Chamberlain’s fictional rehabilitation
Netflix’s sympathetic take on the great appeaser is ultimately unconvincing
Man’s best friend
Eric Gill was an awful man — but that doesn’t make his art any less brilliant
Why is the BBC so obsessed with drag?
Incessant coverage of drag shows and drag queens has become something of a running joke
Exilic yearnings
Miklos Rozsa: violin concerto (LSO Live)
Keir-y-e-Liason
Rob tries to stay awake at the Liazzzzzzon committee
A tumultuous decade of ingenious novelties
Did the English Revolution go full circle, replacing one overmighty king with another?
Dancing with Beethoven
Beethoven: String Quartets, vol.2 (Chandos)
Cardinal win
Conclave is a political drama and a closed-room mystery rolled into one
The case for Jenrick
He can reform the party and take on Labour
Sports inequity
Modern academia wants us to believe six impossible things before breakfast
Let’s start a cat flap
Why do cute predators get a pass from conservationists?
October letters
Misquoting Shakespeare and a rounded sense of humour
Kemi Badenoch’s bad spell
Badenoch keeps bowling lop hops to Keir Starmer
