Critical Briefing
Critical briefing: EU-Taliban talks
As European governments harden their approach to migration, Brussels has taken the extraordinary step of negotiating directly with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers
Critical briefing: cuckooing
A hidden scourge has been plaguing British streets for too long
Critical briefing: the Chişinău Declaration
Why the Chişinău Declaration is more of a symbolic gesture than a chance for real reform
Critical briefing: local elections
Our political editor explains what to look out for in Thursday’s elections
Critical briefing: home ownership headaches
Why more homes are not always good news for the ordinary buyer
Critical briefing: Unite the Kingdom
What you need to know about the Unite the Kingdom march on May 16
Critical briefing: Tisza
What you need to know about the new Hungarian establishment
Critical briefing: energy price shocks
The shocks from the Iran War are yet to be felt, but are sure to be powerful
Critical briefing: Belgian Channel crossings
How the geographical spread of Channel crossings has been widening
Most Read
Tame Impala fails to impress
unconquered by a
taste of Crusader food
A shameful Bill
Labour is spectacularly failing the British people on immigration
Going Green
A day out with Zack Polanski and friends
Against Northernism
“Northernism” is a superficial form of cultural branding, not a serious political project
The big crunch
How university expansion failed to prepare Britain for the future
Our new five-party system
First-past-the-post no longer means
an electoral carve-up between the
Tories and Labour, allowing “fringe”
parties real political influence
How religion shapes football fandom
The meaning of football is intertwined with the meaning of faith
Knowingly crass and conflicted
This American culture is hegemonic because even to steal from it is to propel it
The radical feminism—Christianity pipeline
For radical feminists, clarity about the realities of sex often opens onto a search for moral order
The gifts of gentle density
There are all but endless benefits to building more beautifully
The bonfire of British history
Absentee landlords’ neglect allows architectural jewels to be burned to the ground
No gods, no monsters
We should stop projecting our neuroses onto foreign leaders
It is time for antidisestablishmentarianism
Church establishment is still worth fighting for
France’s fading yellow jersey
The Tour de France once united France, but now reflects its divisions
The right moment?
Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage are offering some cause for optimism — but is it enough?
Tasty tunes
The Chocolate Soldier, Opera della Luna, Wilton’s Music Hall