The Critics

Class viewing

The contrast between the lives of the boxers in “Fight School” and those portrayed in “Anatomy of A Scandal” could not be sharper

Clearly raising the tone

What makes the perfect radio voice?

Tanks a lot

“War is the original human state,” Russian directors seem to say

The eye of the storm

Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque, Vivaldi, The Four Seasons

The original, best and shortest English opera

John Blow, Venus and Adonis; Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (HGO)

Some very healthy early music canaries

Helen Charlston & Toby Carr; Siglo de Oro (LFBM, St John’s, Smith Sq)

Transports de joie

En route back to childhood at the Wallace Collection

Sob stories

Real men have grit in their eye

The decline of the UK art market

The UK’s prominence as a place to buy and sell the most prestigious art is under sustained threat

Pomp and circumstance

A Venetian Coronation, The Gabrieli Consort, St John’s Smith Square