Auction
The lockdown boom in an empty room
Auction houses have enjoyed a stellar pandemic, but could their online success prove a curse?
The mystery of the folded dragon
Michael Prodger recounts the tale of Hergé’s drawing for the cover of the Tintin instalment: The Blue Lotus
The great Rugby School library sale
As Rugby School prepares to auction off some of its most prized literary possessions, one must wonder what Dr Arnold would have to say
Ghost in the machine
Does the printer really “experience” anything?
An unrepentant serial killer
The Happy Traitor tells Blake’s story in a witty and sophisticated way, fully alert to its complexities and ironies
Matt’s Hunted look
The Parkour Secretary is just waiting for his call up
No coffee, please, but Ethiopia can burn
Ethiopia, the home of coffee, falls apart under the world’s muddled gaze while Portugal implements arbitrary Covid-19 restrictions on caffeine consumption
Beware the power of muscle memory
The ability to train our malleable minds is both a blessing and a curse—as the grand social re-engineering experiment of Covid-19 lockdowns is revealing
IDS – I nearly walked out on Xi Jinping’s address to parliament
Duncan Smith sees TPP membership as a means of securing an Anglo-American counterbalance to China in Asia-Pacific
Whitehall takes the knee
When the MoD’s top man signs off with a BLM hashtag it’s a brave official who doesn’t get the message
He can bodge it
Thérèse Coffey defends Downing Street’s home furnishing revamp
Taurine state of grace
Christopher North joins the devoted cult of the elegant, enigmatic bullfighter José Tomás
Dr. WHO’s new assistant
The WHO is increasingly interested in Melinda’s view of the world