Literary Prizes
Pains and pleasures of anticipation
The best sort of debut isn’t actually the author’s first book
Bad bets by the Booker
In 2021, is the state of the Booker still “not serious stuff”?
Lots in translation
As the winner of the International Booker Prize is due to be announced today, ASH Smyth talks to poet, translator and judge on this year’s panel, George Szirtes
Our Man about Town
On the merits of celebrity authors and literary book prizes
All shall have prizes
There are now so many awards that not winning one must seem a source of shame
Single-minded
Enjoy some new malt whiskies coming to market
Don’t ban the billboards
Campaigns against advertising are pure public health fanaticism
Were lockdowns ethical?
Questionable benefits were emphasised above obvious and dramatic harms
Are Labour the real racists?
Conservatives should stop trying to play the victim on identitarian grounds
Do hurt people hurt people?
This popular cliché attempts to be generous but ends up implying that victims are tainted
The problem with securonomics
A genuine strategy for increasing our economic security and resilience as a society would not start with the state
How big a problem is problem gambling?
Jolyon Maugham should not roll the dice on opposing GambleAware
The Conservatives should not cancel Christians
A Conservative party that demonises Christian convictions will cease to be conservative
The best of The Rest Is …
Sequel podcasts are emerging with the inevitability of sprouts from an old potato
Unpacking neurodivergence and gender identity
Neurodivergent teenagers are in danger of having their struggles miscategorised
Brexit and the dubious doppelgangers
Doppelganger models are an unreliable guide to how Britain would have looked had Brexit never happened
