Issue: December/January 2022
Top ten sporting moments of 2021
Three months after taking her A-levels, Raducanu won a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set
Spanish prize
Jonathan Ruffer’s daring philanthropic experiment hopes to bring a different kind of regeneration to the north-east
The suicide bomber and me
A trip to Afghanistan to report on the destruction of the opium crop almost resulted in death
Into the mystic
Contemporary debates over the “suitability” of many operas leaves us with only English productions
The art of fast food
Empty shelves need not mean dreary eating
Forgotten films
Streaming services contain a wealth of overlooked foreign-language war stories
Lions led by donkeys
This tired cliché recently came to mind in a British hospital
To catch a culture thief
A vast global market in stolen and forged art and artefacts has only grown in the context of the pandemic, but technology and international policing may be catching up
Orwell: my self-help guru
Slavery should be reinstated so that it can be abolished by a queer woman of colour
The Dresser Undressed
The delicate process of writing the biography of a wary Sir Ronald Harwood
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
Leaving it all in the ring
The great British bullfighting hopeful, Alexander Paul
No, rent controls don’t work
Stop toying with failed ideas and build some damn houses
Restoration romps
Purcell, The Musical, OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
Middle management in the Middle East
The war against Iran has emphasised the importance of deep leadership
How the cranks won
Britain’s ruling ideology is founded less on what elites believe than on who they fear
Fond portrait of an odd couple
Two irascible, elderly artists and two beautiful younger women in unusual relationships
The testing of Giorgia Meloni
Italy’s first woman PM has proved a pragmatic conservative who has brought stability to her country
Brave new world or fools’ paradise?
For Dubai’s quarter of a million British expats, the Iran war is a mere blip in a luxurious lifestyle
London vs the rest of the country
The publishing industry should aim to be more provincial and less metropolitan
Boriswave denialism
Britain’s ruling class has used dependence on cheap labour as an economic strategy, and cannot see any other option
Better Slayyyter than never
Like the first Strokes album if Max Martin had produced it