Issue: October 2021
Do the right thing
Shoots must be places of buzzing biodiversity
To the bitter end
Why on earth would we want to see the same tawdry old stories endlessly re-enacted?
Resurrect forgiveness
China’s surprising take on a celebrated parable reveals a growing global problem
Citizens of somewhere
Michael Henderson delves into two different radio programmes with identity at the centre
The parent trap
Are social workers targeting mothers who serve frozen meals?
The Critic’s new home
Ecclesiastical textiles, Regency architecture and relief carvings: welcome to The Critic’s new address
A lecture in unflagging naivety
If you want your views of the wrongness of Brexit confirmed, this dull book will do so
Dutch courage
Christopher Silvester on a war movie with no rousing patriotic music or violence, but nevertheless filled with unexpected delights and discoveries
Miserable minimalism
Lisa Hilton says a prime spot near the kitchen is no compensation for a bewilderingly bad evening
A word to the wise
The plants are listening, says Hephzibah Anderson
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
A carnivore’s arcadia
Bowled over by a de luxe fillet steak
Jonathan Ross’s existentialist hell
Jonathan Ross’s “crass” new TV show is surprisingly Sartrean
Beauty from the ruins of war
Painting gave artists and their viewers a temporary way out of the grim wartime reality
Sexy sisters and holy hotties
Less Sister Simper, more Attila the Nun
Exactly my bag
Travel they say, broadens the mind. It can also empty the pockets
The malignant mediocrity of managerialism
A country ruled by lawyers and HR managers will be culturally desiccated and politically sclerotic
The warlords’ insolence
The Americans must stop blaming Europe for their own mistake
Why people smuggling means profits
People smuggling is one of the few functioning markets left in the UK
Zackonomics is incoherent and outdated
Zack Polanski is a great political entrepreneur but he is terrible at economics
Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law
Punishing anyone before they have even been convicted of anything makes me uneasy
Low energy
Rachel Reeves and Mel Stride are inconsistent while Reform are invisible