Haydn Middleton
A dramatisation of Haydn Middleton’s The Ballad of Syd & Morgan is on BBC Sounds.
From austerity to the Swinging Sixties
Two books by David Kirby and Robyn Hitchcock are the equivalent of two albums’ worth of their authors’ holiday snaps
God save The Kinks
How did four ornery lads rearing up from the post-war English underclass become national treasures?
Fifth magician blues
He made the tea, he forged the autographs, and only once did he run out of plectrums
Those golden years
Ultimately it’s the music that brings to each of us our personal Bowie
Get smartphones out of school
Young people desperately need a break from social media
French lessons
Macron’s centrist coalition has not only led the country to paralysis, but is itself threatened with implosion
War crimes and Western double standards
How can politicians cheer the ICC pursuing Putin but not Netanyahu?
Sectarianism contra socialism
How did “left-wing” MPs end up voting for the VAT exemption for private schools?
History unmakers
Our national treasures are morbid symptoms of a country in decline
Progressive realism
Can Labour’s new foreign policy doctrine work in our troubled world?
Could there be a Reform revolution?
Reform’s Welsh Conference brimmed with optimism — but can that be translated into success?
Don’t trust the Runnymede Trust
The law is too indulgent of political charities
How should we teach about the Holocaust?
Keir Starmer’s social engineering aims seem ill-conceived
Assisted dying and the risk of premature surrender
We should be very wary of the circumvention of true palliative care
Tory Utopias
1940s Conservatism was seething with creativity and optimism