Johannes Vermeer
The sacred and the profane
Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young (and old) Man
The Wallace Collection’s Frans Hals exhibition shows the artist at his best
Wanted: a plan to reform the NHS
No serious party can sit out the ideological battle over the remorseless rise in public spending, including on health
Soporific Starmer
The Prime Minister appears to be making a virtue of his own dullness
From the monstrous to the grotesque
Hitler’s cult of charismatic leadership is indistinguishable from the ideology of National Socialism
Stolen moments
Smoking is a precious social currency in a fast atomising world
A manifesto for the fun police state
The IPPR recommendations would do more harm to your freedoms than good for your health
Why Sergeant Martyn Blake was acquitted
There does not appear to be any case for rejecting the decision of the jury
Cities of the mind
19th century English towns live on in our collective imagination
Bitter progress
How English towns developed post-war — not always for the better
Blue-collar brilliance
1970s Pittsburgh wasn’t just a steel town: it was the steel town
Thou shalt not pray?
The British state is ruthlessly prosecuting thoughtcrime
“Trope” is not a synonym of “lie”
You cannot dismiss an argument by calling it a trope
