Pointless protest
Spare us the snooty superiority of “real” writers affronted by celebrity novels
How not to earn a living
More and more books are published but life is hard for the aspiring writer
Life gets worse for verse
Poetry has been put through the academic wringer and obfuscated by jargon
Who let the dons out?
Leave literary reviews to reviewers rather than score-settling academics
Decline of the English novel
Bereft of God and middle class values, authors are left with identity politics
Me, Myself and I
The hip young authors who write about their greatest obsession – themselves
Time the Old Gang departed
The Amis/Barnes/McEwan generation have dominated the book scene for too long
Who holds the power?
Literary reputations are made and broken by a self-appointed clique of bien pensant liberal intellectuals
People of Colour television
How to unpick the progressive contradictions of colour-blind casting
The Scullionbait Awards for Reporting Merit
Articles with no opposing quotes, criticism, or trace of so-called “balance”
Lucy Letby’s defenders have failed
They have not provided cause to doubt her conviction
A broken Reed
Who did Steve Reed MP annoy to be sent to face the outrage of the farmers?
Booty contest
This book sets out to rebalance ahistorical narratives of how museum collections were constructed
Mental illness is more complex than we think
There are no easy answers when it comes to mental health
Improvement and impoverishment
Urban life from the poorhouse to the public house
Chill message of Booker shortlist
The contempt of publishers for middle-class life and values is diminishing the novel
The city and its uncertain plot
Despite fascinating thematic material to work with, Murakami still makes it ploddingly dull
Francis Bacon’s visceral language
Pain and pleasure are never far away in these portraits
Ultra processed arguments
Public health commentators cannot seem to decide what is safe to eat
