Music
John Lennon: the first and last global icon
Forty years on from the death of John Lennon, Dominic Green recounts the tormented life of the last universal Western icon
Bedtime reading for boomers
You will search in vain for a new life of any rocker who made his name after the advent of punk
The Russians aren’t coming
New music was not officially muted in the Soviet Union. It just got left at home, says Norman Lebrecht
The evolution of Nick Cave
The former hard-living frontman continues to expand his horizons
The Divine Comedy at 30
The Divine Comedy will be playing a concert at the Barbican on 14 October to celebrate Neil Hannon
Will there ever be a good Covid protest song?
A decent lockdown protest song is about as likely as a vaccine before Christmas
Peter King: a man of many talents
Remembering the great British saxophonist and prize-winning maker of model aircraft
Rats desert a thriving ship
The space for criticism to exist grows smaller and the archways that sustained its presence crumble away, laments Sarah Ditum
A grim chorus of philistines
Rishi’s £1.57 Billion handout to the arts sector is the last good news it’ll ever hear, says Robert Thicknesse
Last Night of the Proms – a storm in a teacup?
BBC Proms row has developed into an unexpectedly successful publicity stunt
Most Read
The establishment is still living in an immigration fantasy land
It is influential left-wingers, not the broader public, who have deluded themselves on mass migration
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was
Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
On Britain as a capitalist command economy
It is neither neoliberal nor socialist but a secret third thing
Rewatching the English
English identity has become too surreal and discomfiting to define
The asylum seeker will see you now
We should not legitimise illegal migration and its damaging effects
Will Spain become a Protestant country?
How immigration is changing the religious dynamics of a traditional Catholic stronghold
The price is right
Stories about outrageously profligate eating have the appeal of scandal
Can we reduce the manosphere to mental health?
Louis Theroux’s attempt to find the trauma that motivates androcratic influencers is unconvincing
Our oriental roots
Marian Boswall salutes the early plant
hunters who revolutionised gardening
A day out at Unite the Kingdom
Tommy Robinson’s latest demonstration was a peculiarly hammy affair
A range of Stratford anecdotes
The Walliams dilemma
The roots of hatred
Antisemitism, an ancient subject, has once again become a hot topic
A failed war on fags
The black market has taken over the tobacco trade Down Under
The costs of telling the truth too late
The girl guiding decision is causing pain — so why do activists seek to prolong it?
Institutional feminism against women
The likes of Julia Gillard and Jess Phillips have enabled misogyny