Royal Opera
An austere opera
Boris Godunov, Royal Opera
On “Festen” and forgetting
The latest production of the Royal Opera was gripping but occasionally unconvincing
Let’s appreciate Wagner for Wagner
Politics and historical commentary aside, Lohengrin is currently on at Covent Garden
Genuine English opera
‘Peter Grimes’ labours under the weight of national anxieties
Into the mystic
Contemporary debates over the “suitability” of many operas leaves us with only English productions
Most Read
The martyrdom of Young Bob
On ebbing power of the political influencer
Grooming gangs and the truth
We should not give ammunition to deniers of the grooming gangs scandal
Why has Keir Starmer been so unpopular?
He was the perfect embodiment of a failing system
Babies need women
Leaving children with only men who are not their parents is foolish and dangerous
Stop ignoring the Islamisation of our democracy
The British state is bending to Islamism, not attempting to defeat it
Zurbarán on Freud’s couch
An acclaimed new exhibition is full of overwrought symbolism and compositional failures
The meaning and meaninglessness of Makerfield
Andy Burnham has triumphed — but can he maintain his success?
The problem with price freezes
Freezing prices is not half as simple (or cheap) as politicians often think
It’s what you Makerfield of it
Andy Burnham may yet stop Reform, but victory would raise almost as many questions for Labour as defeat.
Britain must call its exiles home
The nation cannot continue to lose its top talent
How the cranks won
Britain’s ruling ideology is founded less on what elites believe than on who they fear
Angst in the Anglosphere
England’s existential crisis is being played out at the World Cup
A bore and a balm
Inferno: Behzod Abdurimov (Alpha Classics)
Fear and fury in Belfast
Violence spiralled out of control in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of a shocking crime
Why do we hate industry?
Performative laissez-faire has been a failure. It’s time for a new policy
The end of anonymity?
The moral norms of the internet are being destroyed by zero sum politics