On cockroaches and cancellation (w/ James Dreyfus)
How ideology is spoiling the arts
Living the good life
The rising middle classes were decisive in shaping the late 19th century English town
Progressive realism
Can Labour’s new foreign policy doctrine work in our troubled world?
Cleaning up the town
As cities grew, so did the need for reform and sanitation
Improvement and impoverishment
Urban life from the poorhouse to the public house
Cities of the mind
19th century English towns live on in our collective imagination
Paved with gold?
Why towns were a magnet for aspirational Englishmen
The world is not enough
In the battle between abstract globalisation and rooted identity, the human spirit itself is at stake
London and the laggards
In the eighteenth century London was booming, but many towns weren’t doing so well
Brooding blokes
Russian writers loved a pouting, picturesquely pained protagonist