Books
AI has not killed the author
Advanced technology can enhance rather than replacing the pleasure of a good book
Don’t just do something, stand there!
Three new books resist the modern cult of busyness
Murders for March
Sharp lines, twisting plots and colourful characters
Josephine Tey, woman of mystery
Deeply private, her elegant and sharply engaging writing has often been wrongly overlooked
The other Camus
The controversial author’s work is filled not just with anger but with autumnal regret
The sentinel sleeps in Lothian
A new book is full of architectural treasures that the Scottish Government should do a better job of treasuring
Grimdull
The fantasy genre is afflicted by a dull and tedious obsession with adolescent cynicism, prurient scenes and one dimensional anti-heroes
Murders for February
Hitler, Harlem and the high-life feature in this month’s murder mystery haul
Murders for the New Year
From Oxford to Italy, the murders continue in 2024
The bad old days
The “golden years” of publishing were characterised by booze, bullying and amateurishness
Water matters
British towns were built on rivers in more than one sense
The sacred and the profane
Allowing a “Rave in the Nave” in Canterbury Cathedral was a regrettable error of judgement
Nova’s diary: Everything’s different now
Rishi is helping our neighbour, Big Jeremy, with his sums
Teaching leftists about tax
Sometimes, an argument about economic policy is like an oil spill
Women MPs should be representing women’s interests
It was ludicrous to talk about microaggressions in the aftermath of an alkaline attack
How the Greens blackened their name
The leadership of the Greens allowed gender fundamentalism to undermine the party
The quaintness of the campaign against public schools
The abuse was terrible but its relevance to modern politics is dubious
It’s time to stop the rot
Students denounced, lecturers cowed and managers with little interest in truth
Sticky situation
Everyone’s Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe was different. All were revolting
Cultural Christianity and the vulgar wisdom of memes
Dawkins is caught between the pure idea of rationalism, and the messy meme of cultural Christianity
Kilkenny’s golden age
A fascinating exploration of Irish history could have been better and more comprehensively illustrated
