On Pop
Blurred history
Britpop has a bad reputation for stolid, white-boy basicness now, but it’s not a reputation Parklife deserves
Not Justin time
Sarah Ditum says that the focus on Timberlake as a bad agent conveniently forgets the machine behind him
Uncool country
Country music has a frontline place in the culture wars, says Sarah Ditum
Dress sense
The average rock band from the 1980s onwards dressed as if they were going to fix your car, not blow your mind
Tunes of glory
How do you love a song you disagree with?
TikTok goes the clock
It took me a while but now I really appreciate Amy Winehouse
Loved Bond, hated Billie
A good Bond song should include swooning strings, stabbing horns and a chorus the size of the moon, explains Sarah Ditum
Rats desert a thriving ship
The space for criticism to exist grows smaller and the archways that sustained its presence crumble away, laments Sarah Ditum
A little bit of curve
In praise of pop smut
All you need is luck
Everything with The Beatles happened at double time, thrilling but draining too, says Sarah Ditum
Put the money back into politics
Business and politics rubbed along much better before restrictions were introduced
Ireland has become an exporter of gender ideology
An architect of Irish trans policy has been elected Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe
Against stakeholderism
How ideas like “citizens’ assemblies” threaten democracy and effective policy-making
Don’t forget Armenia
Armenians, once the target of genocide, are under threat again
Bevis Marks Synagogue
Britain’s oldest purpose-built synagogue faces a new, more insidious threat
The Conservatives can still reform our cultural institutions
The Tories should cut the Blob down to size before Keir Starmer comes to power
Cultural Christianity and the vulgar wisdom of memes
Dawkins is caught between the pure idea of rationalism, and the messy meme of cultural Christianity
How big a problem is problem gambling?
Jolyon Maugham should not roll the dice on opposing GambleAware
Reform the police, don’t deform the police
The Met Police’s Gangs Matrix might have been flawed but it served an important purpose
How we killed ideas and kept impressions
We have to rediscover ideas and not just the idea of ideas
Explaining the “gender pay gap”
It does not exist — or, at least, not as you might have thought
