Geopolitics
Power plays
The Western powers should beware making belligerent threats they cannot back up
Two Cheers for Nuclear Proliferation
An obsession with the dangers of proliferation overlooks its positive effects
The real rogue state
Wherever the outrage is about the success of Sinn Fein, there hasn’t been a word from Brussels
Decentralisation and the impact of political contingencies
The historical power struggle between uniformity and decentralisation
Life has become the avoidance of death
In the continual absence of metaphysics, life – shaped for many years by the pursuit of comfort – is now defined by the avoidance of death.
Town vs clown
Claudia Savage-Gore baulks at the idea of decamping to the shires
The future of Britain’s stately homes
How has the coronavirus pandemic affected Britain’s country houses?
Bullfighting à la mode
Christopher North says French aficionados are more demanding than the Spanish
Black’s History Week
The Critic’s new weekly podcast series, with Professor Jeremy Black
Goodbye to all that stuff
We used to love filling our homes with possessions. Now, less is more — indeed, it’s everything
The death of Theatre Criticism
The great critics always began before they were forty. Who are their equivalents today?
Inside university Marxist societies
One student’s escape from a campus cult
Why aren’t dogs social distancing?
Dogs spread risk, and owners spread dogs