Literature
Rail tracks
Tom Chesshyre on songs and poetry inspired by trains
Where is the Waugh or Wodehouse of our time?
Comic writing: light distraction or social mirror?
He was right all along
Michael Bentley reviews The Englightenment that Failed by Jonathon Israel
P is for Plum Pudding
Jonathon Green reviews A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders
Brief encounters and romps in the park
George Orwell pursued women with enthusiasm and varying degrees of success
Is Jane Austen getting a bum deal?
As the new Emma comes to cinema screens, Alexander Larman considers the innumerable Austen remakes over the past 25 years
A full stop in Sussex
Lisa Hilton is influenced by a Booker Prize shortlisted novel as she samples gastropub grub
Of mice and writing advice
Tibor Fischer reviews Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
Riotous tale of a vivid life, superbly lived
Alexander Larman reviews Lady in Waiting: My extraordinary life in the shadow of the crown, by Anne Glenconner
Inside Number 10
Jack Brown showcases hidden heroes, the history of the building and the famous figures who have passed through
Most Read
The martyrdom of Young Bob
On ebbing power of the political influencer
Losing control of the narrative
The British establishment no longer sets the terms of public debate over migration
Grooming gangs and the truth
We should not give ammunition to deniers of the grooming gangs scandal
Babies need women
Leaving children with only men who are not their parents is foolish and dangerous
Stop ignoring the Islamisation of our democracy
The British state is bending to Islamism, not attempting to defeat it
Our money, abroad
If Whitehall can’t stop taxpayers’ money reaching terrorists, it should stop sending it abroad
Defending liberalism from its defenders
Liberalism should mean anything but a more interventionist state
Knowingly crass and conflicted
This American culture is hegemonic because even to steal from it is to propel it
Into the light
The courage and dignity of Gisèle Pelicot should inspire us all
Undramatic life of a literary also-ran
Malcolm Cowley never understood very much about literature
Sexy sisters and holy hotties
Less Sister Simper, more Attila the Nun
The Starmer strikes back
In a galaxy far, far from stable, Labour’s leadership chaos overshadows the King’s Speech
The games we play
Richard Holt’s sweeping survey of sporting history shows how games, from cricket to boxing, became one of Britain’s most durable cultural languages
Zack Polanski’s war on carrots
Cheap food is not evidence of exploitation but of competition — something Adam Smith understood long before Zack Polanski
Critical briefing: local elections
Our political editor explains what to look out for in Thursday’s elections
The artist formerly known as Nero
The life and death of Rome’s last Julio-Claudian emperor revealed every Roman fear about the dangers of one-man rule