Philip Larkin
How gown destroyed town
The decline and fall of the dreaming spires and their replacement by shuttered shops, sad cafés and mothballed pubs
Philip Larkin: the man who was always right
The great man’s peerless poetry is not the “soppy stuff” of cheap romanticism, but a harsh, unsparing — and often beautiful — look at the world
Why do we like Larkin so much?
On a love with limits
Amis at 100: a master satirist without honour
It’s time to appreciate Kingsley Amis — flaws and all
Should we take Kingsley Amis more seriously as a poet?
The acclaimed novelist harboured dreams of writing verse
The joys and misery of Monica
This is not only an objective biography by a distinguished academic, it is also a warm personal memoir
Like father, like son
Philip Larkin’s long association with Kingsley and Martin Amis resulted in the poet being misrepresented and misunderstood
Why hasn’t Philip Larkin been cancelled?
When Larkin is inevitably denounced, I’ll be reading his forbidden work by torchlight
Sharing the pleasure in poetry
James Booth reviews ‘Somewhere Becoming Rain: Collected Writings on Philip Larkin’
The Tory beauty contest
The good, the bad, the ugly and the downright embarrassing
Excluding Imran Khan is cowardly and wrong
Oxford University has made a serious mistake
4B and the futility of heteropessimism
Romance is painful but it is also possible
Going solo
This Christmas, 40 competitors will face the most difficult sporting challenge on the planet
Italy is right to extend its ban on surrogacy
It is good for women and it is good for children
The dismal state of British defence
The UK’s defence strategy is a combination of hope and vibes
Their work here is done
British politicians are very proud of their role in Syria, whatever it was
Turkey must be at the centre of Donald Trump’s policy for the Middle East
It would be pure folly to alienate such an important regional power
Why shouldn’t we discriminate against people’s beliefs?
It is not the same as discriminating on the basis of race or sex
Make high culture popular again
We need to face the music and embrace the highbrow
The state Will Hutton is in
Dissecting a spiteful attack on British farmers
