Books
Fuccboi: a load of modern toss
A failed American Psycho for the PornHub generation
The genius that was Dr Strangelove
Ananyo Bhattacharya offers an ambitious biography of a genius who defied categorisation in life and death
Blackwell’s: an undesirable new chapter?
The sale of the bookshop is not a good omen for the book industry
Our man in Hungary
The past is never very far away in Adam LeBor’s new thriller
Much more than just a cunning linguist
Patricia Highsmith’s voluminous diaries paint a full picture of their author
Tales of helping and helplessness
This selection of new fiction is marked by both novelty and tradition
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
Most Read
Tame Impala fails to impress
unconquered by a
taste of Crusader food
Gary Stevenson is wrong about wealth taxes
The popular economist is irritating, but more importantly he is mistaken
Why they hated Ann Widdecombe
Fair-minded people could agree or disagree with her opinions. Left-wing bigots hated her for not abandoning them
What is wrong now was wrong before
Julia Gillard should not pretend that the “unintended consequences” of the gender debate were unknowable
Ethnic minorities are abandoning Labour
It is not just Muslim voters who have been abandoning the Labour Party
Outside the box
why traditional topiary is
making a comeback
Restoration romps
Purcell, The Musical, OSO Arts Centre, Barnes
The EU must change course on energy
European industry is finally standing up to irrational EU climate policies
The right does need religion
Christianity is politically valuable as well as, you know, true
Anyone could have predicted
Left-leaning commentators should not pretend to be surprised by the consequences of multiculturalism
Peeves and a weekend in Worcester
Thoroughly entertaining, darkly funny and humanely nasty
The great recoupling
Our politicians have a bizarre sense of costs and benefits when it comes to energy
The Cup and me
My lasting World Cup memories have nothing to do with England
Escape to the country
Some tractor-acceptance meditation might help with moving day
The emperor’s old advisor
McSweeney’s performance before MPs suggests age and experience hasn’t brought clarity — only better excuses
The radical feminism—Christianity pipeline
For radical feminists, clarity about the realities of sex often opens onto a search for moral order