Issue: February 2026
Devilishly good
This menu for this month is black food, with a small “b”
The “No Debate” dodos
“Trans women are women, no debate” is what American psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton called a thought-terminating cliche
Pollyannaish study is a missed opportunity
Being Victorian: How it Felt Then, Why it Matters Now by Jamie Camplin
Where the Eagle dared
The “Pilot of the Future” might finally have reason to be proud of British engineering
Taking the hawking cure
Are rental families a real thing?
Forty-five years of excellence
John Self lauds a writer who has ended up outshining all of his peers
An elegant advocate for Van the man
John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture by Charles Saumarez Smith
The warmth of the collective
Communism is the only guarantee of human happiness
Life, imaginary love and forbidden lust
Blinding: the Left Wing by Mircea Cărtărescu; Thee Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers; A Domestic Animal by Francis King
Roxy Music but they’re all Kate Bush
The Last Dinner Party are a proper rock band, but the spell is too easily broken
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
Literary freedom is in the gutter
The disappearance of a praiseful review for a “cancelled” writer is as disturbing as it is bizarre
I don’t trust the British state
British institutions simply are not functioning in the interests of the people they are meant to serve
Right-wing fight night
A debate over the future of right-wing politics in Britain offered little heat and less light
Andy Burnham’s immigration double game
Andy Burnham might make sceptical noises about mass migration but they mean nothing in practice
Reform’s man in Makerfield
An interview with Rob Kenyon about online controversies and national priorities
A profound Tory
Simon Heffer’s biography of Enoch Powell very much deserves revisiting
The revolt against the public
The establishment cannot accept ordinary citizens having power
From an entitlement state to an investment state
How to achieve a pro-social and pro-market economy
Can we get removals right?
Deporting illegal migrants is a lot more difficult than promising to deport them
The testing of Giorgia Meloni
Italy’s first woman PM has proved a pragmatic conservative who has brought stability to her country
Green eggs and flam
A fine way to make herbes omelette