fiction review
Tragedy, comedy and an Italian parable
Three great novels capture a moment of change for society
You can’t judge a book by its cover
All novels should be like this: stripped of the necessary but boring connective tissue
Murders for October
Edinburgh, exploitation and epicurean excess
A genius, a journalist and a little gem
A bit of lucky timing cannot be begrudged
Eccentricities and obsessions
Novels that say a lot without making lots of noise
How the Tories can win again
The new leader of the Conservatives must reach an important, ignored sector
Labour’s move to ban speech on abortion won’t stop outside clinics
All dissent on the subject is being problematised if not criminalised
Brooding blokes
Russian writers loved a pouting, picturesquely pained protagonist
The case for Badenoch
She has a chance to capitalise on Starmer’s weakness
Dancing with Beethoven
Beethoven: String Quartets, vol.2 (Chandos)
Boris the Innocent
The Johnsonian lexicon has yet to incorporate the word “responsibility”
Up-and-down towns
The rise and fall of English towns in the 1960s and 80s
It is good to challenge kids
That which makes us anxious can also make us strong
Some picture-perfect restorations
What we were seeing looked as good as it would have at its premiere
A house divided
American partisan divisions are the result of social atomisation
Donald Trump should not heed the call of foreign policy hawks
The world is not split neatly between good guys and bad guys
