The Critics
A night of spectacle and special effects
Stranger Things: The First Shadow designers aren’t afraid to raid the treasure trove
High art or high camp?
Elektra, Royal Opera House
Row, row, row your boat
“The Boys On The Boat” is wholesome but unconvincing
Goodnight Vienna
A new Austrian musical taps dark material to produce a brilliant, unsettling and darkly funny exploration of the Anschluss
The imagination of Ensor
The great Belgian painter could enliven the most mundane scenes
Behind the scenes at the museums
The exhibits missing from the globe’s galleries and museums
The geopolitical prescience of Handel
On opera’s flirtation with current affairs
Retro Rodrigo is primo
A new nostalgia listening to GUTS
Thoughtful delicacy and austere introspection
An exhibition of the art of Gwen John secures her legacy
Women’s anger and women’s ambiguities
A new exhibition offers interesting, if sometimes confusing, perspectives on women in revolt
There is no “Woke Right”
A new attempt to delineate the boundaries of acceptable opinion has failed
The expensive problem with the minimum wage
Higher wages for some, perhaps, but joblessness for others
Hatred without end
A year on from October 7th, mutual dehumanisation and refusal of moral responsibility characterises our “debate” over the Gaza war
Is Keir Starmer coming for Twitter?
A campaign group with close ties to Labour Party reportedly hopes to “kill Musk’s Twitter”
“Trope” is not a synonym of “lie”
You cannot dismiss an argument by calling it a trope
The tragedy of Radio 3
The centenary “celebration” of the BBC Singers summed up everything that has gone wrong
Homes for heroes
MPs are committed public servants who need accomodation in London to do their job
A Chancellor should be a fine thing
The University of Oxford’s Chancellor election has descended into farce
Is Britain closed for business?
Stacks of extra administration will make it even harder for businesses to turn a profit
When geek culture was good
A celebration of Spaced
Labour is betraying women
From benefits to crime, Keir is letting women down
