English Literature
How I used to love and now hate the London Review of Books
Speaking words of wisdom, LRB
The ascent of Barbara Pym
A chronicler of the overlooked, she has at last got her just literary deserts
Must we mourn a decline in English degrees?
It does not entail the decline of English literature
Canterbury Tales redux
Pilgrimage still serves to bring people together
Harold Pinter: from bad to verse
The playwright will not be remembered for his poetry
Why do we like Larkin so much?
On a love with limits
Virginia Woolf: Teflon goddess of the trivial
She was nasty, crude, racist and often a poor writer — so why is she revered?
Why we need a new movement
The timid world of BritLit needs to be shaken up by a mutinous new clique of writers
Keep calm and le Carré on
His pessimism about Britain proved untrue — and its own kind of comforting fantasy
A spy for all seasons
Who is the man behind “The IPCRESS File”?
No, Churchill wasn’t the bad guy
The debate over Britain’s wartime leader has been reignited by an ignorant revisionist account
The war on women’s spaces
Roxanne Tickle’s legal triumph is nothing to giggle at
British universities should stop using foreign students as a crutch
Its short-term benefits are obvious but it is not a long-term solution
Bitter progress
How English towns developed post-war — not always for the better
You can’t legislate away hatred
Don’t just do something, stand there
The dangerous fallacy of “self-deterrence”
The concept makes little sense and could create serious risks
The public sector must reform or die
Too big to fail? It is too big to succeed
What do Labour think a conversion therapy is?
There has to be a middle ground between complete denial and complete affirmation
You were warned
Badenoch’s election means bad news for the Tories
Don’t stop the music
How a legendary DJ was cancelled just for listening to women
Who Should Be The Next Archbishop of Canterbury?
With the shock resignation of Justin Welby, who will the Great British Public select to lead the Church of England?
