Somerset Maugham Award
Catnip for culture lovers
Contrasting works from a veteran master of invention and two newer faces who blur fact and fiction
How not to investigate the origins of Covid
Wuhan: How the Covid-19 Outbreak in China Spiralled Out of Control by Dali L. Yang
The light and the insubstantial
Poulenc and others: Chamber music (Calliope/DG)
Campus confidential
Inside the secret Cambridge societies hiding their unfashionable views
Leaving Kindland, entering reality
“Being kind” at the expense of truth and reason can make us nothing of the kind
An array of civilised music
Walter Kaufmann: 3rd piano concerto, 3rd symphony &c. (CPO)
Singers have a voice, too
Study of the Western canon is often reduced to a politicised debate: power and patronage versus individual genius. The truth is far more complex
The age of the Sex Olympics
It is time to resist the pornification of the modern world
The arts are under threat in Scotland
New legislation endangers freedom, but the arts have been enabling its suppression for some time
Devolution has been a disaster
SNP incompetence is a feature of the system and not a bug
The darkness of assisted dying
The desire to end terrible pain is understandable — but the dangers are severe
The elusive Seiji Ozawa was Japan’s greatest peacemaker
Farewell not just to a conductor but to a generous man