Issue: December 2019
A flawed first draft of history
Theresa May’s former political secretary on the biography that doesn’t get her right
The great inquisitor of Splott
John Humphrys’ A Day Like Today touches lightly on his early career, which is a shame
Eternal resurrection
James Orr reviews Tom Holland’s Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind
The brutal purging of God
Giles Udy on Godless Utopia by Roland Elliott Brown
Intolerable intolerance
David Herman reviews The Tyranny of Virtue by Robert Boyers
Mean genius of comedy
Alexander Larman on Happiness and Tears: The Ken Dodd Story by Louis Barfe
Latin hero of love-torn teenagers
Tibor Fischer reviews A Thousand Kisses by Frederic Raphael
The prophet who didn’t do people
Friedrich von Hayek became “Hayek”, a cardboard cut-out representation.
Play it both ways, Dmitry
This new biography has set my feet pounding, for once in admiration rather than indignation
Confessions of the new Grub Street
The money is bad, the hours long and the white wine copious and cheap
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
Shining a light on the culture wars
Without the reintroduction of liberal ethical standards, the sacred purpose of academia cannot survive
The costs of telling the truth too late
The girl guiding decision is causing pain — so why do activists seek to prolong it?
The futility of right-wing cancel culture
Trying to get left-wing comedians fired for edgy jokes is stupid as well as wrong
Not exiles, but stayers
White South Africans are not abandoning their home
Why we love pubs
Politicians are squeezing pubs out of existence without understanding why they matter
It’s time to scrap SLAPPs
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are stifling debate in Britain
The real problem with rigmarole
A journalistic focus on proceduralism distracts us from deeper political questions
Surrogacy is not a human right
Noble principles are being twisted to prop up an exploitative ideology
Beyond Carmen
Georges Bizet: The piano works (Hyperion)
We must save the right to smoke
Liberals must not put down the sword against paternalism
Good enough for politics
We should be more willing to declare some political problems solved