Music
Blurred history
Britpop has a bad reputation for stolid, white-boy basicness now, but it’s not a reputation Parklife deserves
Not Justin time
Sarah Ditum says that the focus on Timberlake as a bad agent conveniently forgets the machine behind him
Losing the plot
Robert Thicknesse reveals how in searching for meaning, opera adaptations are becoming more obscure
Myth of Igor, the Great Composer
Norman Lebrecht says an affair with Coco Chanel did Stravinsky’s PR, and hers, no harm at all
Zooming Windows
The George Formby Society attempts a ukulele world record, online
Take a leaf out of sport’s book
Music has lost its unpredictability, its thrilling fear while sport’s passion shines, says Norman Lebrecht
Uncool country
Country music has a frontline place in the culture wars, says Sarah Ditum
Shock of the new
People are terrified of modernity’s great gift: the sudden freedom to make appalling noise, says Robert Thicknesse
The iconic history of London’s 100 Club
Steve Morris recalls the iconic Oxford Street basement club which has housed London’s evolving music scene since the Second World War
Paul Heaton: an undervalued musical genius
For all his success, Heaton remains surprisingly niche – which is probably just how he likes it
A “lost” novel better left unfound
We’re a long way from touchstones One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera
The building that inspired Orwell
Was there an appetite at the time for monumental buildings, equivalent to those in Moscow?
Where is so much gender confusion coming from?
The scope of inquiry into gender and young people should be expanded to schools
Our illiberal Terrorism Act
People should be censured for their actions and not for their beliefs
The Cass Review is not the end
Gender ideologues are not going to give up in the face of facts
Who judges the judges?
Judges, whatever their gender, need sufficient judgement to maintain neutrality and political impartiality
The sculptor’s funeral
The death of Imogen Stuart represents the passing of an Ireland that built, rather than destroyed
Politics with the depth of a puddle
A month of politically-minded podcasts has reached its exhausting apogee
The elusive Seiji Ozawa was Japan’s greatest peacemaker
Farewell not just to a conductor but to a generous man
Let there be love
Filmmakers have fallen out of love with romantic movies, but it’s time to bring back passion to the picture house
Dumbing down the priesthood
Unless the Church reinstates rigorous college-based training for clerics, it will wither away
