On Opera
Bad-boy opera
Tosca, Grand Opera House, Belfast
The cat in a hat
A colourful glimpse into a dramatic feast of sex and death
Why it’s time to drop Don Giovanni
Mariame Clément’s new production of Don Giovanni falls prey to modern mores.
Proper pro opera
Fun with fear and failure
Freak shows
Horrors wrestled into being
Spring to life
April in London has a number of operatic things that look kind of fun
Going for a song
In true bel canto, the only important thing is the voice, the song
Just do the bloody show
Rusalka, Royal Opera House
Beyond satire
Opera North and English Touring Opera have plied an honourable trade without trying to gain kudos
Planning for success
Even with its huge majority, Labour has a finite amount of political capital. It should spend a great deal of it on planning reform
Sue Gray’s inbox
As hacked by Robert Hutton
In defence of Elon Musk
Open debate might be messy but it is essential
“Nice” people need to read this book
How women have been hounded throughout the gender wars
The slow death of public spaces
Pointless regulations are sucking joy from British life
The return of non-crime hate incidents
Labour are attacking free speech through the back door
The sadness of AI boyfriends
Technology can make romance frictionless and sterile
Enthralling eclecticism
Roberto Gerhard: Don Quixote, &c. (Chandos)
Graham Topman: festival organiser
Roll up, roll up, it’s time for another festival of arts, ideas and Graham (mostly Graham)
Stubbs at flay
His controlled charnel house gave the painter a peerless understanding of horses
Afrocentrism with a Labour twist
Dawn Butler’s Black History Month video was disturbing as well as weird
