Arts
Diversity north of Dundee
A Highlands culture war
They’re not laughing now
Without taxpayer handouts, will the arts finally be forced to give people what they want?
Midsummer fever dream
What is the direction of theatre for the next season?
Truman and Tennessee: an unlikely friendship
Michael Collins maps the relationship between two of the greatest writers of the American south
Very Amis, very Hampstead
Joseph Connolly treasures his friendship with his literary hero
Tom Stoppard: A private man now on parade
This biography is a testament to detailed analysis and intelligent insight, says Alexander Larman
Met with disappointment: a quiet season for postmodern New York
Manhattan’s cultural landscape faces more tough times ahead with the cancellation of the Met’s 2020/2021 season
The silence of the arts
Why have the arts not strained at the bonds laid upon them in the way earthier pursuits and pleasures have?
Waiting for – anything
Krapp’s last tape might these days be a collection of WhatsApps and stored Instagram images, muses Anne McElvoy
Is artistic nepotism an evil – or a necessity?
Nepotism in the arts is very much alive and here to stay
To catch a culture thief
A vast global market in stolen and forged art and artefacts has only grown in the context of the pandemic, but technology and international policing may be catching up
Pay no attention
In the rush to blame tech companies, we forget the ultimate threat to free speech comes from the state
Wolf in plod’s clothing
Why “Non Crime Hate Incidents” don’t seem to apply to the cops
Hans Werner Henze: The Sea Betrayed (Capriccio)
I was completely absorbed by this opera as a sound production — maybe one day I’ll get to see the whole show
Glaring omissions of a whistle-stop tour
Carey is the tour guide of a magnificent villa telling of the wonders that lie beyond a closed door
The Critic Books Podcast: The Barn
The Barn is a history of the lives, landscapes, and lost ways of an old Yorkshire farm building
Big questions, muddled answers
Human Frontiers is an entertaining, zippy read but it feels one layer down from its ostensible subject: big ideas
Size isn’t necessarily substance
Gatsby aside, F. Scott Fitzgerald — the Jazz-Age chronicler — is dispensable
Man’s best friend
Eric Gill was an awful man — but that doesn’t make his art any less brilliant
Meet the SAGE of hate crime
The unaccountable group that shapes hate crime policy