Book Review
The upside of the bubonic plague
Historian James Belich has no truck with the plague deniers
How Britain fell out of love with Boris
The story of a shy extrovert, an unprincipled believer, a depressive funster
Fruits of sex
Rediscovering the telos of gender
Stability and sensibility
Art between the wars
The distinctiveness of human aggression
A review of The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution by Richard Wrangham
A Yiddish colossus
Isaac Bashevis Singer would never have submitted to today’s ideological edicts
A cautionary tale
The lot of the writer today is one of insecurity, wounded pride and dwindling returns
The “Popish brat of France” reassessed
Leanda de Lisle triumphs where her subject could not
Irritatingly glib take on a golden year
Stanfield adds little to the history of rock that hasn’t been said better elsewhere
Confusing populism with tyranny
Gideon Rachman fails to distinguish the strong from those who pretend to be
Most Read
The establishment is still living in an immigration fantasy land
It is influential left-wingers, not the broader public, who have deluded themselves on mass migration
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.
On Britain as a capitalist command economy
It is neither neoliberal nor socialist but a secret third thing
The lonely death of Henry Nowak
We must draw lessons from a horrendous and disgraceful case
Soft competition
There are participation prizes to everyone at the Venice Biennale
The costs of independence
Northern Ireland offers sobering lessons on the consequences of devolutionary radicalism
An elusive eatery
Total failure, redeemed by souvlaki and chips at the kebab stand
The roots of hatred
Antisemitism, an ancient subject, has once again become a hot topic
Working with Woods
There have been too few honest explorations into the intrinsic link between woods and humans
Where are Britain’s moral voices?
On decriminalising abortion up to birth, the Archbishop of Canterbury must talk the talk, not walk the walk
Kemi at the crossroads
Kemi Badenoch cannot tell everybody what they want to hear
Keeping the faith
Brexit triumphalists can’t understand how other people living in the UK in 2026 do not share their enthusiasm
An uneasy peace amid the ruins
Four million citizens of Damascus remain uncertain of what the future will bring
Talent and temptation
William Walton: Two symphonies
It’s what you Makerfield of it
Andy Burnham may yet stop Reform, but victory would raise almost as many questions for Labour as defeat.