Sam Taylor
Sam Taylor managed global equity portfolios around the world before becoming the Chief Executive of These Islands ahead of its launch. Find him on Twitter at @staylorish
The myth of Scotland’s Covid superiority
Scottish Government advisers are using misleading data to promote Scottish exceptionalism
Flawed paean to a heartless auteur
A lack of empathy goes to the hollowness at the heart of so many Kubrick movies
Defend Christian private schools
Keir Starmer’s tax raid would be bad for children, parents and the state
Moroccan gold
Enjoy some of the finest food ever eaten at the exquisite Farasha Farmhouse
Well-behaved Beethoven
Beethoven: Triple concerto and British folksongs (Decca)
A rollicking, great Kiss Me Kate
Musical and artistic brio can transcend the “problematic”
Tough on smoking, tough on alternatives to smoking
We should give smokers healthier options, not no options
Lucia di Lammermoor, Royal Opera House
It’s an amazing paradox that something as tawdry as opera can produce such a pure expression of what it is to be human
When things could only get better
Fans of the 1990s aren’t nostalgic reactionaries. They celebrate an era of optimism, peace, prosperity and great popular culture
Europe between the Seine and the Tiber
It is time for Paris and Rome to rethink sovereignty and their relationship with the EU
Why we all feel let down
Reflecting upon the corrosive power of disillusionment in politics and why our leaders are virtue vacuums who lack both competence and character