Society
The mystery of the folded dragon
Michael Prodger recounts the tale of Hergé’s drawing for the cover of the Tintin instalment: The Blue Lotus
Take a leaf out of sport’s book
Music has lost its unpredictability, its thrilling fear while sport’s passion shines, says Norman Lebrecht
The idealisation of everyday life
Natascha Engel delves into Marc Stears’s new book, and asks: is there anything in here that will help us rebuild the Red Wall without losing our big city majorities?
Shock of the new
People are terrified of modernity’s great gift: the sudden freedom to make appalling noise, says Robert Thicknesse
Derailing the gravy train
The question of human rights, Christian morals and Western ethics has hitherto been an academic debate; now it is in the public arena
The gay anti-Nazi brotherhood
In recognising the threat Hitler posed and swimming against the tide of public opinion, the glamour boys defied the stereotypes
Public Enemy Number whatever
Frederic Raphael defends his friend, the writer Joseph Epstein, latest victim of America’s cancel culture for daring to mock Jill Biden’s doctorate
Did Gaullism save France?
Jeremy Black talks to Graham Stewart about the French experience from the liberation of 1944 through to the student unrest of 1968
France between Belle Epoque and Blitzkrieg
Professor Jeremy Black talks to Graham Stewart about what made French politics and society distinctive in the decades before and after WWI
Sharing the great American dream
The Upswing by Robert Putnam, with Shaylyn Romney Garrett
The dismal state of British defence
The UK’s defence strategy is a combination of hope and vibes
Tom Stoppard’s Hampstead drama
Best not try to memorise this deceptive Connect Four of relationships — just get into the flow
Boris the Innocent
The Johnsonian lexicon has yet to incorporate the word “responsibility”
Over the line
No one should discipline children for asking honest questions or telling the truth
Hatred without end
A year on from October 7th, mutual dehumanisation and refusal of moral responsibility characterises our “debate” over the Gaza war
William Warham
A champion of the English Church unfairly eclipsed by his great rivals Wolsey, Cranmer and Cromwell
Starmer’s tax will hurt children
It is not just a tax, it is cruel theft
Alive and flicking
A game invented by a man named Adolph might have been a hard sell to the British public, but it was an instant hit
A Chancellor should be a fine thing
The University of Oxford’s Chancellor election has descended into farce
Eighteen questions for Kim Leadbeater
Questions that all MPs should be asking
Is “love is love” only for white people?
The Tories have suddenly discovered the book of Leviticus
