Books
Going to the ends of the earth
A thrilling story of machismo, mutiny and madness in the Pacific
The Queen’s Jubilee Book List: why did they bother?
The choices show a lack of levity, imagination and courage
A Room with a Feud
What happened to robust — and, yes, rude — literary criticism?
Young Stalin’s unlikely London holiday
Stephen May’s new novel is a triumph of historical fiction
The Critic Books Podcast: The Golden Rule
In discussion with novelist Amanda Craig about her latest book
A bitter brew from darkest Peru
Iain Sinclair on the trail of his Victorian ancestor
Brass and bullshit
Influencer is just another name for snake-oil salesman
Very essence of a Jewish writer’s life
Howard Jacobson stands his life on its head
Writing outside the box
Elena Ferrante’s essay collection is an exploration of the delights and constraints of form
The unheard lessons of howling feedback
Separating the signal from the noise
Renewing academia
The Centre for Heterodox Social Science represents a positive alternative to a field increasingly dominated by progressive ideology
Free speech freeze-up
Reactions in Britain to the attempted suppression of NatCon suggest a bleak future for freedom of speech and thought
The right must learn from modern art
Marcel Duchamp’s rule-breaking provides real lessons for the right
Decolonising science
Rewritten histories of science, outdated religious shibboleths and notorious omissions
Is Britain a Christian country?
The UK has an established religion alright — the worship of the self
Why the goal glut?
Football — never boring, even when Italy is defending a 1–0 lead — has only grown more exciting
Weak, flawed, limited; an opportunity missed
Sanghera really should have devoted more attention to the pre-Western history in Empireworld
No, Liz Truss did not crash the economy
The Conservatives should be brave enough to take on this stupid talking point
Winning sinner
That 1999 Tour needed Armstrong quite as much as he needed it
Clerical error
Clergy should be in the business of saving souls, not stamping passports
A Freudian slip
Was Golden Age Vienna the birthplace of the modern mind?
