Sing for victory
The days when recording a novelty single was a pre-tour duty are long gone
Playing by numbers
Attacking the Space:
Inside Rugby’s Tactical and Data
Revolution by Sam Larner
The Real shooting match
Cue the bogus platitudes that leaders make about sport’s ability to heal divisions
On a winning streak
Eventually streaks end, but it does not have to be The End
Great pretenders
On talking a good game
Crime and Christianity
Dorothy L. Sayers may not have been the most assiduous warden, but she served her church in the best way she could
Ciao to la Scala of football
A cricket club founded by an expatriate lacemaker evolved into one of the wealthiest football sides in the world
TikTok tournaments
“Sportertainment” is a consequence of this age of short attention spans
Making a splash
A new book marks 150 years since the first unaided Channel swim
The sound of silence
Cricket can be at its best when nothing much is happening
Most Read
The establishment is still living in an immigration fantasy land
It is influential left-wingers, not the broader public, who have deluded themselves on mass migration
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was
Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
On Britain as a capitalist command economy
It is neither neoliberal nor socialist but a secret third thing
Rewatching the English
English identity has become too surreal and discomfiting to define
It’s high time we banned dogs
The tide is turning against these slobbering beasts
We can restrict doctors’ strikes
Well-paid doctors should not be allowed to endanger patients uninhibited
Mehta’s protest over the Gaza war
In the run-up to his 90th birthday, Zubin Mehta decided to sever contact with Israel
The Boston barbarians
The Boston Symphony acted like a New Orleans nightclub owner with a recalcitrant pole-dancer
The American chaos machine
The United States’s current aggressive expansionism and domestic strife are an intrinsic part of its national character
A carnivore’s arcadia
Bowled over by a de luxe fillet steak
Critical briefing: Belgian Channel crossings
How the geographical spread of Channel crossings has been widening
Oldham, new problems
How changing demographics have reshaped culture and politics in Greater Manchester
The EU is changing on immigration
A firmer stance is being taken — but will it be enough?
From triple lock to price caps
Opinium polling for The Critic reveals the totemic pension policy has entrenched a politics that demands control over growth
Restoration romps
Purcell, The Musical, OSO Arts Centre, Barnes