Lee Cain
Keeping the beaches open
What did we learn about Boris Johnson’s COVID response from Didactic Dom?
Once, twice, three times a briefing
Are thrice weekly Downing Street briefings finally about to start giving us reasons to be cheerful?
The historical role of the maîtresse-en-titre
Nigel Jones looks at how the mistresses and girlfriends of rulers have exerted political power throughout history
Why tech execs don’t give their kids phones
Gen Z’s brains have been “rewired” by the online world —can they be restored to factory settings?
Commonwealth citizens should not be allowed to vote
Newly arrived non-citizens being allowed to vote makes a farce of British democracy
Fun in the sun
Summer finally appeared for the most civilised drinks event of the season
Addicted in art
What role should suffering play in creativity and the consumption of art?
The renovation of the Heal’s Building
Londoners are sentimental about the early-twentieth-century Tottenham Court Road store, Heal’s
High praise for low standards
Why intellectual life needs more, and more systematic, criticism
Nature neglected
In this election green policy only get airtime when it can be linked to jobs
Rosemary Sutcliff
A writer of genius, capable of conveying the feelings and lives of those who lived in the distant past
How Reform can reform itself
Reform can be major player — but it will take good sense and dedication
Ringo Starr
The man cruelly mocked as “not even the best drummer in The Beatles” must be the most underrated musician of all time