Poetry
Why do we like Larkin so much?
On a love with limits
The Critic Books Podcast: Cult writers
How does a writer become a figure of cultish renown?
Should we take Kingsley Amis more seriously as a poet?
The acclaimed novelist harboured dreams of writing verse
Fishing with Ted Hughes
A new memoir finds the poet in a world of rivers, rods, and reels
Seductive, scholarly life of the poet-priest
This new biography of John Donne brings the centuries-dead poet to life
A trip to Heaney country
The fiftieth anniversary of Seamus Heaney’s Wintering Out is a chance to recognise the importance of place to his poetry
A most unreliable culture warrior
Not reactionary, just drawn that way
Diversity north of Dundee
A Highlands culture war
Glaring omissions of a whistle-stop tour
Carey is the tour guide of a magnificent villa telling of the wonders that lie beyond a closed door
Poetry matters
When poetry is sold as nothing more inspiring than literary politics, is it any surprise the poetry shelves in Waterstones are so dusty?
Killing the good Samaritans
In the face of monstrous violence, we are losing control of our public spaces
There is no human right to assisted suicide
Lady Hale is wrong about the existing laws
The new Scotland
Scottish culture is narrowing and secularising under the influence of a strident liberal elite
Bad education
Under Labour a deeply ideological education sector could go very quickly and badly wrong
The glorious Ninth
Relive the moments when music changed forever
“Moral debt” is classic watermelon politics
Do left-wing economists believe that there is anything to which wealth redistribution is not the answer?
Food for thought
Is it worth trapping the squirrels in my London garden?
Whole lotta Love
She makes your average rapper look like a Quaker
Ireland’s Future has no future
Despite Irish separatist campaigning, Northern Ireland’s future remains firmly in the UK
Enough with the bigotry mind-reading
Why do people insist on jumping to the least generous interpretation possible?
Reclaiming freedom in the arts
Great art that speaks of today cannot be made in a climate of fear
