Archives
Spare us easy satire
Satire is supposed to be the unsayable, not virtue-signalling two-bit doggerel
Libraries and laureates: a study in necessity
Without school libraries, boys and girls will grow up in households where the idea of owning books, or even borrowing, seems an increasingly fantastical one
Christopher Hitchens and the culture war
Where would the late ciceronian speaker have fit into today’s polemical battles?
Is it really time for the monarchy to go?
How the case for monarchy rests not only in its advantages, but also in its alternatives
The Man who saved the firm
The Duke of Edinburgh’s genius was to ensure that the more the Royal family changed, the more it appeared to remain the same
The men with the megaphone
A new history of movie directors is full of insight, felicitous phrases and subtle put-downs
Temple to craft and prestige
A beautiful and unusual book can lift the spirits of even the most jaded reviewer
Foreign frivolity
Robert Thicknesse on how the idea that foreign poetry was better than local soon became established dogma
The sphinx who reshaped Europe
The key to Europe’s future lies with Mario Draghi, the technocrat who sidelined politicians and saved the Euro, but who now needs them to succeed as Italy’s PM
Blurred history
Britpop has a bad reputation for stolid, white-boy basicness now, but it’s not a reputation Parklife deserves
