KGB
Incel inside
The Russians assume we use Opera to project state power, I assure them that the government hate the arts
The long arm of the Chekists
This book is an apt metaphor for the state of freedom of speech in modern Britain
An unrepentant serial killer
The Happy Traitor tells Blake’s story in a witty and sophisticated way, fully alert to its complexities and ironies
How Roman women were victimised twice
The victims of abuse could also be degraded by historians
The riots and the social media blame game
Politicians blaming social media for the riots are hiding from state failings
Knife-edge of the Western world
Vilnius is a serene western capital on a critical eastern frontier
Why young men like Donald Trump
He cuts through the sterility and severity of modern life
Two cheers for pedestrianisation
Pedestrianisation cannot solve all of Oxford Street’s problems
Cities of the mind
19th century English towns live on in our collective imagination
The far enemy
The motivations for the 9/11 attacks are still misunderstood and moralised
In defence of the incredulous stare
To argue is to indulge in a practice, with all that this entails
Is Cheltenham beyond parody?
A books bash these days has to offer Geri and Geoff Hurst and that bloke out of Radiohead
Crossing the public health Rubicon
Are there any limits to statist safetyism?
A beguiling star who loved melodrama
Taylor’s hunger for money, flashy gizmos and flashier gewgaws found its echo in Burton’s need to forsake the classics
