Issue: October 2021
Acronyms
Acronyms are one of the means by which bureaucracies hide or obfuscate what they do
Man with the van
Thomas Woodham-Smith on the trade’s true mavericks
Old school ties
Fates in this unforgiving industry are long decided
Cardinal Newman
The apostate saint
Lucien Grote: Experimental Playwright
Lucien veers between lamenting modern theatre’s disdain for “truly serious work” and suspecting that it all could have gone a great deal worse
Vincent’s tragic legend restored
A new book revisits the painter’s death and returns the verdict that it was suicide after all
Guru of regurgitation
Time for self-styled “design guru” Stephen Bayley to move on from his erstwhile mentor, monstrous Sir Tel
Grubbing a living
These two books show that it has always been the preserve of the unscrupulous to peddle their wares to the gullible and salacious
The perils of a speaker unchained
Bercow remains a grim warning about what a politician can still do in the chair, if he puts his mind to it
The best there is
Frankie Dettori’s unmatched skill, underestimated bravery and unprecedented love for the horses
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
Vapid slogans for the hard of thinking
Every modern university, it seems, needs a “mission statement”
From Wigton to Wadham College
The Oxford Bragg describes is almost as much another world to us now as it was to him then
The old age elephant in the room
Does Andy Burnham seriously think that he can fix social care?
The right has a conspiracy problem
Conspiracies exist — but the temptation to use them as an all-purpose explanation is wrongheaded
The UK’s messiest election ever?
Trying to predict the results of the next election is a mug’s game
Cry sod Harry, England and St George
Why aren’t people proud to be English?
London vs the rest of the country
The publishing industry should aim to be more provincial and less metropolitan
Where is Britain’s vision?
Modern Britain has acquired a lack of national purpose, except for policies that are self-harming
Profile: Allan Massie
The recently deceased Scots journalist and author
What does it mean to be free?
Women are caught between different experiences of freedom and loss
A case for Classics
Eager minds are being failed by a smug and short-sighted cultural establishment