Culture
The pain gain
In today’s pop world trauma is an asset
Publish — or be damned
There’s no wonder that books are becoming more conformist when freedom of expression is being curtailed
Ignoring race won’t help anything
The dangers of pathological altruism
Full of Eastern promise
Out with the old, in with the new: Michael Prodger on art collection trends
The Piedmontese job
Enjoying the silky and lean Italian Fassona beef in Turin and Kensington
Muzzled in Moscow
Drawing on the author’s experiences, the book’s effect is akin to having a long pub chat with a knowledgeable journo
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Violin sonatas (Naxos)
Ten minutes of Villa-Lobos and you’re ready for carnival
The perils of artivism
No space for art: how the ICA has been using public generosity to promote political activism
Pick of the bunch
Garden flowers are for posies
Laughing laureate of Western decline
Michel Houellebecq’s prescient, mocking critiques of our debased modern world
Queen of Hearts
Perturbed to find Diana has a starring role in Celebrity Help! My House is Haunted
The dangerous excesses of breaking boundaries
There is a double standard on trans people and violence
Why this new book will pass unnoticed
Columnist Steve Sailer’s views on genetics and IQ have placed him beyond the pale for bien pensant reviewers
Pen pusher
My fascination with fountain pens
Save this perfect Welsh building
The Church Institute and Churchmen’s Club at Llanfairfechan need, and deserve, to be preserved
The elusive Seiji Ozawa was Japan’s greatest peacemaker
Farewell not just to a conductor but to a generous man
Therapy is making children ill
What would really help children’s mental health is talk about resilience
The truth is out there
Henry Staunton is dismissed as dangerously “erratic” by the powers that be, but he may just be telling the truth, no matter how weird
Against stakeholderism
How ideas like “citizens’ assemblies” threaten democracy and effective policy-making
The EU’s war on Hungary
As news breaks of secret EU plans to cripple the Hungarian economy, who can still believe it respects national sovereignty?
The greats’ Dane
The story of Burton and Gielgud’s famed Broadway production of Hamlet has been turned into a West End play
