Issue: May 2024
Making art of the Holocaust
As dramatic opera, The Passenger inhabits a grey zone of guard–prisoner relations
Loony tunes
Opera begs leave to celebrate lunacy in a different way
Having a bad Bey
If you’re going to jettison the essence of the song, why even bother?
X scandal
The fault lay in the dirty minds of the viewers, he said
“Trad” theatre can still feel fresh
West End strikes a balance between keeping their spine and nostalgic appeal, whilst avoiding creakiness
Violent delights
It’s 30 years since Pulp Fiction hit cinemas, and what a time it was to be young
Walter’s Arctic Circle is a winner
Welcome to a kaleidoscopic showcase of topical dramas in vivid settings
Word pictures at a gallery
Paintings are appreciated best when there are few people around to spoil the view
Two sides of the weird frontier
The archly neutral now stands on the margins, looking out at a society of fear and outrage
Whither the RIBA’s drawings?
Maverick John Harris embarked on the closest Britain has ever got to an architecture museum
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
Woke politics was never trivial
Wokeness was a lot more, and a lot worse, than a passing online fad
Symphonies have life
John McCabe: 2 symphonies and cello concerto (Signum Classics)
It is time to cut pensions
The economic burden on younger people is unsustainable
The problem with Palantir
The software company is attempting to redefine politics for the worse
Is Keir Starmer failing?
To fail at something, he would have to do something
Britain’s mutilated constitution
We must restore the old to build the new
The tyranny of memes
Modern would-be assassins are products of the internet
The right does need religion
Christianity is politically valuable as well as, you know, true
Emin: from the bed to the grave
Not so much a fresh start, as an opportunity to finally take her concerns in earnest
Eroticism and intrigue
Out of Vienna (Alpha-Classics)
The case against Project Spire
The Church of England should abandon this misleading and expensive exercise in virtue signalling