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’
Calm down, dears!
Donald Trump offers no threat to Britain’s core ideological commitments and is unlikely to radically change U.S. foreign policy
Worthy instrument
York Bowen, Willam Walton: Viola concertos (SWR Music)
Eric Fogey
Dr Fogey genuinely does believe that virtually every enlightened measure of the past 200 years was a mistake
Soporific Starmer
The Prime Minister appears to be making a virtue of his own dullness
Fleeing Sally Rooney’s god
Why have critics been ignoring one of the novelist’s most important themes?
The professional classes don’t understand manual work
They cannot understand distinctions between different kinds of labour
Nothing to declare
Labour have done nothing wrong, but they’re going to stop it
Reject the culture of death
Darkness lies beyond the euthanasia rubicon
The election is still Trump’s to lose
His performance has been weak but his advantages are many
Will judges protect free speech for Christians?
A new case will determine whether expressing normal Christian beliefs precludes employment
The afterlife of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko
Reflections on forty years since his death shook communist Poland
