Issue: December/January 2024
A magnificent update — for good and ill
Only one with a slightly deranged confidence could ever have attempted it
Life versus learning: a battle of the titans
In their lives we find fiercely opposed poles of a culture that has profoundly shaped our world
Another country
We all need to reconnect with the natural world
Spilling the beans on the great spymasters
Fantasy is an essential part of what we are pleased to call reality
In an enchanted glen
The pinnacle of Scottish cuisine and French design are served at Glenturret
Restless zeal of the insomniac emperor
There is something uncanny about the story of Justinian
Chapter and verse on the unknowable Bard
The striking thing about Sir Stanley’s Shakespeare is how unsexy he is
The geopolitical prescience of Handel
On opera’s flirtation with current affairs
Blinkered vision
The threat to racing’s future
Careless glister
Insouciant glamour for the party season
Most Read
The Book of JO’B
James O’Brien’s aggressive incuriosity is becoming ever more embattled as his worldview crumbles
I don’t trust the British state
British institutions simply are not functioning in the interests of the people they are meant to serve
The rise and fall of Nicola Sturgeon
The former SNP leader squandered her talents in a classic tale of hubris
Nigel Farage, community leader
The logic of multiculturalism is turning on its architects
The screaming spires
Oxford University must clarify where it stands on academic freedom
The Arctic circle: a game of ice and fire
The Arctic is fast becoming a hotspot for great power competition
Will capitalism end capitalism?
Artificial intelligence is perverting the logic of our economic and political systems
Labour’s toxic medicine
The more they treat the symptoms of decline, the worse things get
Critical briefing: the Chişinău Declaration
Why the Chişinău Declaration is more of a symbolic gesture than a chance for real reform
Making the case for liberalism
Wooldridge’s polemic draws together the disparate traditions of liberal thought and action
A bewitching Sink drama
Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe make Shakespeare compelling for Gen Z
Lost in translation
Attempting to understand the lives and thought of our ancestors can teach us about ourselves
The judge’s verdict
Much of what is passed off as sport is no such thing
Beware the British ICE
Mass deportation of Muslims will not solve antisemitism, but feed feelings of alienation
The last true Kapellmeister
Chaotic in all things except music, where he demanded precision and gave his all
How to save your parish church
Be the Church you want to see in the world