Mona Lisa
What’s behind that enigmatic smile?
The author of a new novel about the Mona Lisa explores the history of the world’s most famous painting
The myriad Mona Lisas
How the multiple Mona Lisa copies, and their prices, testify to the longstanding fame of the painting and its mystique
The fallacy of soft power
The world runs on cold national self interest, not cultural capital
Let’s at least agree rape is wrong
Fundamental feminist theories are under attack from within feminism itself
What became of Tchaikovsky?
Tchaikovsky: 5th symphony etc (ICA Classics)
Small talk and big asks
Men’s mental health is a serious matter — but it is wrong to expect people to be lifesavers
Do hurt people hurt people?
This popular cliché attempts to be generous but ends up implying that victims are tainted
There is a lushness to this expanded Letters
There is frequent reporting of local news, often betraying a hobbit-like
preoccupation with the availability of beer
Crocodile Keir
For all of Sunak’s shoddy timing, Starmer’s opportunism was pathetic
How NatCon was saved
An attempted cancellation flopped in Brussels — but the bad taste remains
Democracy contra the majority
What does democracy mean if it is not related to the popular will?
Two-tier policing?
If the Government caves in on its buffer zone guidance, it will be mandating two-tier policing
The elusive Seiji Ozawa was Japan’s greatest peacemaker
Farewell not just to a conductor but to a generous man
