Culture
The cathedral and the museum
With declining attendances and a neglect of their core mission, churches and art galleries have much in common
Why do we persist with Opera?
Dependent on state subsidies, artistically ossified and only a few go to see it
Against pop culture populism
The phoney courage of disdaining classical music
The culture war has become the culture
On the discourse and the subject
Building a culture for kids
Financial support is not enough to raise fertility rates
Not having a gay old time
On BBC radio’s preoccupation with Americans and identity politics.
Hating The Hundred
Why do cricketing authorities think we’re stupid?
A nation of curtain twitchers
Britain is becoming pettier, nastier and more tedious
Militant humourlessness
A pseudo-history of British comedy leaves one depressed
Requiem for London’s music
How London has lost its place as a classical music capital.
The case for more royals
This is no time for a slimmed-down monarchy
Chasing votes on foreign soil
Viktor Orbán has created a pipeline of support for his Fidesz political project by granting full citizenship to thousands of ethnic Hungarians in Romania
Dumb, glum and zero-sum
British thinking has to value supply more than distribution
A great conductor leaves the stage
No conductor from China or Japan ever commanded world orchestras before Seiji Ozawa, and none has since matched his impact
“Problematic” art
This kind of adolescent tripe passes these days for thought
Snook dazzles as Dorian Gray
Wilde’s preoccupation with beauty and artifice brings a sassy Victorian immorality tale into our own times
The court of hot air
We do not need human rights law to protect human rights or to maintain the rule of law
In the name of God, lead
The Prime Minister appears terrified of making a stand against racism in his own party
When the populist meets the Pope
Javier Milei and Pope Francis represent very different and often hostile elements of Argentinian cultural life
The ongoing reality of Russian imperialism
People rationalising Russian military intervention are betraying their ignorance of Russian history
Not everyone has a novel in them
Literature is the only art in which, it seems, every neophyte is convinced they can succeed
