My advice to young writers
You are hoping for a successful career, but it’s going to take more than just the work
All the industry crises in one place
The book industry bible gives no hint that there’s an intelligent, informed readership out there
Who are the household names now?
Cultural fragmentation has led to a decline in shared knowledge
The long-gone queens of Grub St
In the good old days, powerful publicity directors could guarantee coverage for books
How we devalue the Book
Literary culture is under threat from quarters meant to celebrate and promote it
The golden age of criticism?
There are good reasons why serious writers no longer review in the national press
Chill message of Booker shortlist
The contempt of publishers for middle-class life and values is diminishing the novel
Is Cheltenham beyond parody?
A books bash these days has to offer Geri and Geoff Hurst and that bloke out of Radiohead
Let publishers publish
The protracted corporate decision-making process is stifling the books industry
Twilight of the gods
The eclipse of the gilded 1980s generation can be seen as a welcome changing of the guard
Most Read
Tame Impala fails to impress
unconquered by a
taste of Crusader food
Gary Stevenson is wrong about wealth taxes
The popular economist is irritating, but more importantly he is mistaken
What is wrong now was wrong before
Julia Gillard should not pretend that the “unintended consequences” of the gender debate were unknowable
Ethnic minorities are abandoning Labour
It is not just Muslim voters who have been abandoning the Labour Party
How to fix the economy
A repentant ex-financial trader tells all
Most of the world thinks differently to us
Universalism is based on irrational ideas about human nature
The artist formerly known as Nero
The life and death of Rome’s last Julio-Claudian emperor revealed every Roman fear about the dangers of one-man rule
Do machines laugh?
The experience of amusement defies a reductionist approach to the mind
It is time for antidisestablishmentarianism
Church establishment is still worth fighting for
Auntie’s autumn
Rather than wage war on the Beeb, a Reform government should strip it of its monopoly and force British broadcasting to compete again
Hyperventilating vexillology
Once councils flew the symbols of the realm; now they proclaim the enthusiasms of the age
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
Ice and fire
Ben Stokes has had a truly exceptional career
The case for compromise with Cuba
The strategic case for negotiating with Havana
Badenoch in the bindweed
The Conservative Party leader might please no one by trying to please everyone
A frozen war?
The US should put stubbornness aside and end the conflict with Iran