Issue: June 2021
World Class
On a phrase used by people with brains of tinsel
Adapt and survive
Tim Abrahams says fans of Modernism should accept sensitive redevelopment
Party political
Claudia Savage-Gore loses sleep plotting a stealth-lavish birthday party
Duchess of Grub St.
I’m delighted that Meghan Markle has decided to stop causing controversy and embark on the more sedate pursuit of a literary career
Swift reprise
Swift’s latest project is even more interesting than the imaginary motherhood album she pinned her hopes on
Disdain on a plate
Enduring pale, greasy salmon in the spiritual home of the trout pout
Fantastic life of Brian
Over these past months, one has lost count of the number of humble showbiz folk selflessly going to the trouble of taking photos/videos of themselves being jabbed
Sculptor, wrecker and seducer
A beautiful book, but a fairly orthodox biography of the Hon. Stephen “Tommy” Tomlin
Benin’s bronze ambassadors
What the opening of the Edo Museum of West African Art means for the potential restitution of 2,807 historical bronze artefacts
David Hockney: An oyster without grit
An oyster without grit
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
Undramatic life of a literary also-ran
Malcolm Cowley never understood very much about literature
No, rent controls don’t work
Stop toying with failed ideas and build some damn houses
The problem of midwit misinformation
Iran, insurance and how smart people lose sight of the truth
First time thrills
Most of all, it was a tournament of heroes and villains
How procedure is enabling petty criminals
We should support workers who confront criminals
The party of retailers
Labour’s drift from its union roots reveals the party no longer knows what — or who — it is for
Reclaiming Christian nationhood
Linking the Christian faith to our national identity is not radical (or American)
Kemi at the crossroads
Kemi Badenoch cannot tell everybody what they want to hear
Graphics, games and occult entities
A retrospective of Treister’s work reveals the frictions in the artist’s motivations
Countryside counter-attack
A ban on trail hunting reveals a government more interested in cultural punishment than rural survival
How to save your parish church
Be the Church you want to see in the world