Antonio Pappano
No direction from directors
Music directors who fail to provide any direction in times of crisis
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
Iran has been fatally misunderstood
The US and Israel were foolish to imagine that the Iranians would crumble
Hope and stories
Bicinia (Claves)
Cry sod Harry, England and St George
Why aren’t people proud to be English?
Critical briefing: the Chişinău Declaration
Why the Chişinău Declaration is more of a symbolic gesture than a chance for real reform
Fond portrait of an odd couple
Two irascible, elderly artists and two beautiful younger women in unusual relationships
Fell for it again
Britain’s pro-development enthusiasts mistook fantasy politics for the real thing — and are now paying the price.
Standout singers
If Music (Erato), Day of These Days (Delphian) & Eisnacht (Genuin)
What’s so illiberal about “illiberal democracy”?
Viktor Orbán has been a political pioneer in Europe
The Middle Kingdom and the middle powers
China’s clash with Western power shattered its civilisational self-image. Europe is heading for a similar reckoning
The false filibuster framing
There was nothing undemocratic about resistance to the Assisted Dying Bill
Beauty from the ruins of war
Painting gave artists and their viewers a temporary way out of the grim wartime reality