My perfect castaway
Robin Ashenden whiled away a forced sojourn in Georgia by feasting on the back catalogue of Desert Island Discs and compiling a list of his favourite guests
What the Russians may be eating in Tbilisi
Georgian cuisine is a rose with few thorns
Stalin’s last laugh
Joseph Stalin has been recast in Russia not as a bloodsoaked tyrant, but as a strong, effective leader
Canary in the cultural coalmine
Robin Ashenden talks to the prescient Lionel Shriver about cancel culture
Khrushchev – shoe banger for a superpower
On the 50th anniversary of his death – what should we make of Nikita Khrushchev?
Kenneth Tynan: a riposte to Equity
Robin Ashenden says the critic would have declared war on an ill-judged edict
Thatcher’s ‘Wiring Diagram’ and why we need it once again
We need a new Hoskyns-inspired intervention to deal with today’s cultural crisis
Dark lessons from Canada
Once “assisted dying” is legal, the boundaries of what is permissible expand
Why is the BBC so obsessed with drag?
Incessant coverage of drag shows and drag queens has become something of a running joke
Badenoch’s “muscular liberalism” is a non-starter
The Conservative leader sounds hopelessly out of touch
Total eclipse of the art?
Activistic artists and curators are making art a niche political endeavour
“Bold vision”
An action or choice can perfectly well be bold without being good
Labour’s inaction on religious persecution
The Freedom of Religion or Belief brief is simply being ignored by the government
Is this what winning looks like?
Reform UK supporters are growing weary of infighting and weak rhetoric
Death by a thousand cuts
The near-invisibility of the Proms on BBC TV is a symptom of the collapse of public service broadcasting in Britain
The fading fumes of the New Right
None of the Tory candidates offer the chance of an ideological makeover
Will Starmer’s immigration gambit backfire?
The prime minister might have opened a box that he cannot close
Save nursing from the universities
There is no need for nursing to be a graduate only occupation
