Books
A keen nose and sharp prose
David Womersley reviews Waugh on Wine by Auberon Waugh
Why do we review books?
D.J. Taylor reflects on nearly four decades of hard graft on the literary pages
Airline Maps: A century of art and design
An enjoyable visual book that acts as a history of aviation
A good read but variable as history
A Short History of London is good on architecture but a more sophisticated analysis is needed
Cyber court
Soon, technology will mean the judge and the parties in a legal action can file claims and evidence online
Confessions of the new Grub Street
The money is bad, the hours long and the white wine copious and cheap
Shed and buried
X.Trapnel on cakes, fakes and stocking fillers
A flawed masterpiece that will dominate the field
Jeremy Black reviews David Abulafia’s The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans
Might-have-been books
Do I ever regret the books I might have written? Only fleetingly.
Scribbler with a gift for women
Tibor Fischer reviews ‘The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Samuel Richardson’
Raw and immersive tale of the Civil War
The siege of Basing House encompasses all of England in microcosm
The magical LGBTQ+ myth factory
The LGBTQ+ lobby is making up “scientific” facts to win arguments
Not so perfidious Albion
Britain has proved a steadfast ally to Ukraine, whilst the EU has dragged its feet
Sibelius: 7 symphonies and Tapiola (Decca)
A fresh, ambitious and daring approach to the familiar Finn
Hail Mary
A Bloody Mary is perfect at almost any time of day and in every kind of weather
Doing the Strand
The glorious heyday of Roxy Music, when just to be a fan of a band that sounded like no other was like being in an exclusive club
What would Václav Havel have made of gender wars?
The former Czech president and playwright would have invited JK Rowling over for a beer
BBC butterflies
Trans charity Global Butterflies seems harmless — but are they really cuckoos in the nest?
A singular modern master
Architect John Outram fused high-tech and tradition to create his own unique style
Good and evil on the new frontier
Our current ethical guidelines are hopelessly inadequate for a new era of unimaginable technological change
Three act tragedy
The Wagatha Christie case reveals the addictive fun of gossip — but also its corrosive power