Micro niche
The best piece of pop
Funny guy
The charm of Lewis Capaldi
Traffic hazards
Driving in the uncanncy valley, Dartmoor’s cagoule warriors and the wizarding weirdness of the Rowling fandom
Taking the piss
If you’re going to be provocative, people are going to be provoked
Vinyl solution
Vinyl’s comeback is down to a desire for a tangible point of contact with a performer
Unholy influences
The weird and not so wonderful world of influencers, and an open invitation to Theodore Dalrymple to get inked
Midnight’s mass
Taylor Swift’s talent for ordinariness that makes her the most exceptional artist at work today
Take the Bizkit
How Woodstock ’99 foreshadowed the MAGA masses of 2016
Feelbad anthem
Liz Truss does indeed “move on out”
Arsenic and old lace
Autumn arrives and nostalgia descends
Landfill indie remembered
A Golden Age? It was barely a Plastic Age
Mutilation theology
Asserting mastery over their future selves is a feature of mastectomy, not a bug
My “state of the nation” book
England’s Mean Unpleasant Land: How the Tories, Trump and TikTok Screwed Up Britain
England is not yet lost
Where else would you rather be from?
Indulgent Italian treats
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Complete string quartets (Naxos)
International Society for Libdem Consciousness
It’s a cult, but at least it’s one of the cheerful ones
The good news on academic free speech
The Office for Students has offered some cause for optimism
The public sector must reform or die
Too big to fail? It is too big to succeed
The Bar should say “bye” to EDI
Barristers should not have to follow ever more extensive equality standards
Tom Stoppard’s Hampstead drama
Best not try to memorise this deceptive Connect Four of relationships — just get into the flow
How the Tories can win again
The new leader of the Conservatives must reach an important, ignored sector
