Music
Bob Dylan and the mystery of traditional music
In becoming Bob Dylan, Robert Zimmerman entered a mysterious, invisible world
A discipline in danger
Universities should not respond to funding crises by axeing the arts
The nun’s tale
Dead Man Walking, English National Opera, Coliseum
Baroque in a bad way
Vikingur Olafsson: Opus 109 (DG)
Music for troubled souls
NIGUN (SWR Music)
Ritual and redemption
Parsifal, Ghent Opera House
Me and my gull
Seagull: True Story, Marylebone Theatre
Love among the sandwiches
Cesare, Somerset Opera, Frome Memorial Theatre
Transcending misery
Galina Ustvolskaya: Symphonies 1-5 (BIS)
A hint of the mystical
Music has inspired two fine new productions
Most Read
The martyrdom of Young Bob
On ebbing power of the political influencer
Why has Keir Starmer been so unpopular?
He was the perfect embodiment of a failing system
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
Can Russell T Davies write “terfs”?
In Tip Toe, Russell T Davies is more nuanced than one might expect — much to the dismay of gender ideologues
Operatic satire is a Shaw thing
The old Art has an armoury of skunk-like defence mechanisms to keep the unwashed at bay
Critical briefing: energy price shocks
The shocks from the Iran War are yet to be felt, but are sure to be powerful
The testing of Giorgia Meloni
Italy’s first woman PM has proved a pragmatic conservative who has brought stability to her country
The trains have to run
Populists have had success in persuading people that they can govern — but can they actually govern?
Averting irrational egalitarianism
How to stop ideological anti-racism damaging our institutions and our country
The knife and the bone
After war and repression, Iranian dissidents believe the regime’s reckoning is near — but Tehran’s influence reaches far beyond its borders
Scotland’s biggest legal scandal
Hundreds of men could have being denied their right to a fair trial because of a justice system that rules important character evidence inadmissible
A day out at Unite the Kingdom
Tommy Robinson’s latest demonstration was a peculiarly hammy affair
Like a homecoming
A haunted house
The meaning of Zack Polanski
The icon of geriatric millennials is one of life’s drifters
Itamar Ben-Gvir, heel
The Israeli demagogue is a bleak but interesting model of a modern politician