Barry Humphries
Two essays in excellence
The BBC at its best on Shakespeare, and remembering Barry Humphries.
Humphries and the humourless
Cancel culture is often midges biting giants
Do our leaders understand the power grid at all?
It seems as if basic facts are being completely ignored
When the music stopped
A reflection on the inexorable decline of arts education and the rise of knee-jerk politics and managerialism
Why shouldn’t we discriminate against people’s beliefs?
It is not the same as discriminating on the basis of race or sex
The Church of England’s race to the bottom
The Church of England should not be putting ideology before history
Is university still worth it?
Rising fees raise questions about the value of some degrees
Paved with gold?
Why towns were a magnet for aspirational Englishmen
Conservatives listen to music too
Gatekeeping the “real” meaning of songs is foolish and futile
Allyship on easy mode
The inclusive message of Will & Harper obscures the harder questions of the “gender wars”
Is Starmer the anti-Thatcher?
He does not have the right ambition and imagination
The afterlife of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko
Reflections on forty years since his death shook communist Poland
London and the laggards
In the eighteenth century London was booming, but many towns weren’t doing so well
