Books
The Critic Books Podcast: The Gardener
On this episode of The Critic Books podcast, Francesca Peacock speaks to Salley Vickers about The Gardener
My Body: a lesson in self-awareness
It would be easy to deride Emily Ratajowski as a hypocrite, but there is something deeper underneath her famous looks
Rumours of a crime
Louis-Ferdinand Céline was a flawed man, but he should be allowed to be condemned by his words
John Saumarez Smith: a bibliophile and a gentleman
The Heywood Hill bookseller has died
Santa’s unspeakable sack
Why are publishers so sniffy about stocking fillers?
Trans ideologues hide books to hide reality
They know their theories can’t withstand the cold light of real scholarship
Celebrity crime novelists: the latest literary fashion
Crime and thriller titles have replaced Strictly Come Dancing as the new craze for celebrities
Woke identity politics and the corporatist agenda
Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to Oliver Wiseman about the undemocratic nature of corporate woke identity politics
The millennial bibliophile
Too many books, too little space and the insecurity of renting
Such, such were the goys
Jonathon Green says the xenophobic 1920s novels that inspired his lifelong love of literature should not be cancelled
Good news clickbait
Cleo Smith has been found, just rejoice at that news
Gentleman of Médoc
This wine is ready to drink but can readily be put down to hibernate for another half decade before being savoured by the Shepherd Market salonnières
The myth of childhood obesity
The statistics are unfit for purpose
No friend indeed
The feminist fix: how to expose mansplainers like Billy Bragg who only pretend to be feminist allies
All’s foul in fetishised violence
The feminist fix: Legislators must close the loophole that allows men to claim “rough sex” as an excuse for rape and murder
Woke Lush have done it again
The cosmetics shop is encouraging young women to bind their breasts
French Fancies
Is the Navy really open to all?
Been there, read that
Can we leave old books alone?
There’s no party like a Sue Gray-compliant party
If you can remember May 2020, you were there and you are lying
In praise of conversion
Like LGBT campaigners Augustine of Hippo found conversion to be an unbearable assault on his identity
Border skirmishes
No actor has done more to endanger the future of Northern Ireland than the European Commission