Issue: August/September 2023
Appreciating the small and recherché
There is still some unspoiled Surrey country to be enjoyed
Holiday reads by the recently departed
1980s fiction might more profitably fill your beach-y or gîte-y afternoons
The cat in a hat
A colourful glimpse into a dramatic feast of sex and death
Be more Wham!
What men today can learn from the success of a 1980s pop duo.
Acting his age
What happens to film franchises when action heroes age?
Summer viewing
Top television recommendations for the summer from Adam LeBor
A car for the connoisseur
Revelling and revving in the Alvis
Going nuts
Becoming a food-withholding “almond mom”
Most Read
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was
Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
The lonely death of Henry Nowak
We must draw lessons from a horrendous and disgraceful case
Rewatching the English
English identity has become too surreal and discomfiting to define
A failed war on fags
The black market has taken over the tobacco trade Down Under
Murders for June
Bodies in Brighton and spies in Scotland are features of our first crop of summer murder mysteries
Britain and brutalism: listed, not loved
The visitor numbers and heritage status of the Southbank tell us nothing about what people actually want to look at
From triple lock to price caps
Opinium polling for The Critic reveals the totemic pension policy has entrenched a politics that demands control over growth
Will capitalism end capitalism?
Artificial intelligence is perverting the logic of our economic and political systems
Good news for the rule of law
Activists who break the law should not be able to appeal to their high-minded motives
Fence-sitting in a time of peril
Daniel Johnson condemns the Prime
Minister’s impotent handwringing when
America called for help in the Iran war
One year later
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, the gender argument is not going anywhere
Why are doctors special?
Doctors have a lot less to complain about than other workers
Is Keir Starmer failing?
To fail at something, he would have to do something
Critical briefing: Tisza
What you need to know about the new Hungarian establishment
Kemi at the crossroads
Kemi Badenoch cannot tell everybody what they want to hear