Issue: November 2023
Palin was a rare Radio 4 treat
The triumph of Michael Palin’s Book of the Week and the tragedy of Radio 4 comedy
Moving tribute to a richer time
On one tumultuous day, eleven men in strawberry-jam shirts wore crowns
Being boring
Why boring clothes are back
A history of the world set in stone
Popular geology writing is as old as the geological sciences themselves
Eat on the wild side
A lamentation on the bland American diet
Just a little note to say “I hate you”
Poisoned pens pierce the veil of sociable living
Here we go again
The striking similarities between the tired, unoriginal politics of our age and those of the turbulent 1970s
NUFC and the Saudis
Foreign governments should not own football clubs
America’s alarming debt trap
The soaring US debt-to- GDP ratio could have major global consequences
Thanks, but no thanks
Thanks giving in Highgate
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
The global migration compact trap
The UN migration compact may be non-binding, but its political effects are very real
Can we reduce the manosphere to mental health?
Louis Theroux’s attempt to find the trauma that motivates androcratic influencers is unconvincing
Were we close to a revolution in 1926?
Nine Days in May / The Edge of Revolution
An unpleasant man, and a genius
The most interesting people are not necessarily the most attractive
Storycraft is soulcraft
A Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and heroism after disenchantment
Taking the Sheen off
Shiny old lies remain the very bedrock of our trade
Dangerous liasons
Does Keir Starmer have a plan for dealing with Donald Trump?
It’s high time we banned dogs
The tide is turning against these slobbering beasts
The right has a conspiracy problem
Conspiracies exist — but the temptation to use them as an all-purpose explanation is wrongheaded
Offence archaeology and the future of elections
We have to ignore the cheap and disingenuous politics of offence archaeology
A new town versus an old estate
Development in the heart of rural Oxfordshire will change the ecology of the surrounding area