Alan Isler
Finely-turned tales of mothers, murder and love
We need a system where books that publishers really love, where it’s not mere puff, get a special sticker on the front, says John Self
Sinn Fein’s victory brings new urgency to Protocol crisis
Northern Ireland Protocol looms over Ulster politics as the Nationalists threaten to upend business as usual in Belfast
Reinvention and rediscoveries
An actress turned author, a Kafkaesque fantasy and a 1960s re-release stir the imagination
A return to duty
Campaign Diary: Bedbound reflections on the ongoing brutality of war in Ukraine
He’s not the son of God
Cricket fans are the ultimate non-conformists
A madman’s guide to Wagner
You don’t have to be crazy to enjoy Wagner, but it helps
Boris brings up the rear
The prime minister is consistent only in his untidiness and unpreparedness
Stalin’s last laugh
Joseph Stalin has been recast in Russia not as a bloodsoaked tyrant, but as a strong, effective leader
Another Elizabeth, a second Anne
In our secular age the Queen has been Anglicanism’s most compelling representative
Buildings for butchers
How should we judge the grandoise building projects of murderous dictators?
Rhyme of the times
Within six weeks of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, most of Europe was at war
Wagner rides again
A return to enchanted tradition in Siegfried at Longborough Festival Opera