Cheeky blinder
Isobel Williams’s treatment of selected poems is literary charcuterie, as neat as it is naughty
Thick as Thebans
Frederic Raphael reveals how Paul Cartledge makes the case for a central historical role for Oedipus’s home town
Public Enemy Number whatever
Frederic Raphael defends his friend, the writer Joseph Epstein, latest victim of America’s cancel culture for daring to mock Jill Biden’s doctorate
A letter to Jesus
Frederic Raphael poses some pertinent questions to the son of God
Visual mess
The pride flag has ended up symbolising nothing at all
Full of Eastern promise
Out with the old, in with the new: Michael Prodger on art collection trends
Sagas to savour
Was Iceland responsible for the French Revolution, the moon landing and the discovery of America?
Will the Chinese “decolonise” Hong Kong?
Will a newly assertive Beijing seek to “decolonise” Hong Kong of the last visible signs of its colonial past?
Allies at war
Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the British contribution to the Allied victory
The modern age in lists
Plain in view, huge and hateful, all disguise cast off
China: The rules of engagement
How should America deal with a newly aggressive and expansionist Beijing?
Stay home, win elections
Leaders that reject grand narratives in favour of what actually matters to people are rewarded
The new network for gender-critical academics
Welcome news for radical feminists and supporters of free speech
Disunited States
A third of Americans now support the splitting up of the nation into like-minded countries independent of Washington