Archives
Courting disaster
Number 10, as a court, is now more-or-less sui generis
TB or not TB: the literature of consumption
No infectious disease has left its scars on the body of literature like tuberculosis
What’s behind that enigmatic smile?
The author of a new novel about the Mona Lisa explores the history of the world’s most famous painting
Harrison Birtwistle: Chamber works (BIS)
The British composer — still writing at 87 years of age — is an acquired taste
When bad reviews attack
Book reviews are not the preserve of the literary dilettantes — they have real power
Golden boy turned starstruck rube
The self-justifying self-portrait of a journalist who never made it
Gaspingly chic
The accoutrements of smoking are deathly cool
Kiev and Moscow: a tale of two Russias
Ukraine threatens Putin because it offers an alternative version of Russia
Interview: Semyon Bychkov on Ukraine and nationhood
He discusses exile, the horrors of totalitarianism and why Russophobia is not the answer
On and off the road
Jack Kerouac’s reputation should rest on his whole oeuvre — not just his most famous novel
Most Read
How religion shapes football fandom
The meaning of football is intertwined with the meaning of faith
Why has Keir Starmer been so unpopular?
He was the perfect embodiment of a failing system
Can Russell T Davies write “terfs”?
In Tip Toe, Russell T Davies is more nuanced than one might expect — much to the dismay of gender ideologues
The martyrdom of Young Bob
On ebbing power of the political influencer
The tears of Keir’s
It was an anticlimactic end to an unconvincing premiership
The real problem with rigmarole
A journalistic focus on proceduralism distracts us from deeper political questions
A win for academic freedom
The university free speech complaints scheme is (finally) going ahead
Joyous genre-bending
Milestones (Signum Classics)
Unreadable red bile
This anti-capitalist screed is profoundly and irredeemably fatuous
Tedious transgression
The mainstreaming of porn is dangerous, hypocritical and very, very boring
Zurbarán on Freud’s couch
An acclaimed new exhibition is full of overwrought symbolism and compositional failures
How to save your parish church
Be the Church you want to see in the world
Britain needs the Med mindset
We have to adapt to the sweatier realities of a changing climate
The hollow men
T. S. Eliot understood contemporary politicians better than they understand themselves
Don’t bet against the SNP
The complete ineptitude of their rivals has kept them at the top of Scottish politics
Unusual summer reds
Think exotic spices, maraschino cherries and curly shoes