On Opera
Less austerity, more pizazz
Grand opera was long thought quite dead but is suddenly rearing its shaggy head again
A belly full of agitpropera
Opera really doesn’t need the help of activist directors when it comes to politics — it’s all there already
Naughty but nice
Every six months or so opera surfaces from its undersea lair, like a Bond villain, to enter public consciousness — generally when it’s been naughty.
Most Read
Gary Stevenson is wrong about wealth taxes
The popular economist is irritating, but more importantly he is mistaken
Why they hated Ann Widdecombe
Fair-minded people could agree or disagree with her opinions. Left-wing bigots hated her for not abandoning them
Night of the big bins
How Count Binface changed the face of Britain forever
Keir’s logorrhoea
The prime minister has a lot to say — but does any of it actually matter?
Europe’s French nuclear shield?
With the NATO alliance under threat, will
Europe really trust President Macron’s
offer of a pan-EU nuclear deterrent?
I’m so over Exposed
Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back by Clare McGlynn
The myth of banned books
If transgression is fun and easy, it is probably not transgressive
Hippo critical
No Roman left a greater intellectual legacy than Augustine, whose writings shaped Christianity and the Western mind for more than a millennium
The original sin
It should not have been difficult to see that there were problems with appointing Peter Mandelson
A police school for scandal
Is it any wonder there’s a two-tier policing controversy when officer training is focused on political correctness?
It’s what you Makerfield of it
Andy Burnham may yet stop Reform, but victory would raise almost as many questions for Labour as defeat.
The end of encrypted Europe
Europe’s latest Chat Control may see child protection become a pretext for wider surveillance.
Papal pressures
The Pope was well-received in Spain, but political tensions have been mounting
