Culture
Altogether enough enjoyment
Venice after people
Last Night of the Proms – a storm in a teacup?
BBC Proms row has developed into an unexpectedly successful publicity stunt
Is this the end for the National Trust?
Proposed money-generating changes could be the demise of a national treasure
The worrying rise of compelled speech in professional sport
The sports stars pushing back against the BLM movement
Dining out, dying out
Alexander Larman on William Sitwell’s luxurious history of eating out
An incomplete history of the Swinging Sixties
Any history of the 1960s that neglects mass culture is not to be taken entirely seriously
Teens on screen
The coming of age genre is experiencing a renaissance
The celebrification of children’s literature
Children’s book publishing needs to take a step away from celebrities
Disclaimer: Mel Brooks is cancelled
HBO attempts to protect snowflakes from Blazing Saddles
Raphael & Rome after Lockdown
For art lovers, now is the perfect time to visit The Eternal City
The building that inspired Orwell
Was there an appetite at the time for monumental buildings, equivalent to those in Moscow?
The first rule of Plot Club is…
The Tories are absolutely, definitely, certainly not scheming to replace Rishi Sunak
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
Rishi goes a-wooin’
The Prime Minister was an extremely nervous suitor trying to impress some very sceptical rural in-laws
This is not where I live at all
Cynthia Erivo’s slighting of Sunderland was indicative of British arts establishment beholden to a homogenous, Americanised vision of culture
The Conservatives can still reform our cultural institutions
The Tories should cut the Blob down to size before Keir Starmer comes to power
He’s not the messiah, he’s a transwoman
Transsexual Apostate is a disturbing book, written for disturbing times
The lonely end of a political failure
Leo Varadkar rode to power on a wave of optimism and is disappearing in a puff of disaffection
The light and the insubstantial
Poulenc and others: Chamber music (Calliope/DG)
Kilkenny’s golden age
A fascinating exploration of Irish history could have been better and more comprehensively illustrated
Poor old Carmen
This update of a classic from the Royal Opera House is a reminder of why messing with great pieces is so risky
