Television
The nation’s favourite: why Coronation Street matters
As Coronation Street celebrates its diamond jubilee, is it time to take it seriously as the chronicler of our times?
The BBC’s worst mistake
A separate channel dedicated to British sport could have saved the BBC
Learning to love Big Brother
A contemporary political drama uses the double whammy of Covid and Brexit to reanimate older, primeval forces
Getting a television changed my life
Living without a TV had several notable side-effects: we’d read more, and sometimes, even have conversations
The trial of the Mangrove Nine
Steve McQueen’s dramatisation of the 1970 trial of the Mangrove Nine is a triumph
Lost dream of coexistence
Adam LeBor delves into The Bureau, the utterly absorbing French spy thriller series
Latex memories
Spitting Image (BritBox)
What Spitting Image did to British politics
As Spitting Image returns to our screens, its original impact has not been forgotten
Why Sherlock Holmes remains the greatest detective
There is no need to make Sherlock Holmes more likeable, part of his brilliance is in his ambiguity
10 years of Downton Abbey
What insights can period dramas give us into the past?
What Britain should learn from Singaporean healthcare
How Singapore spends less and sees better outcomes
A festival for women — and men?
You cannot address the underrepresentation of women by including men
Britain’s first postmodern election
What Galloway’s victory really tells us about Britain
Entering the populist Pyongyang
Your correspondent watches the far right debate immigration — but will he go native?
London’s lamps live on
Thanks to the dedication of the Gasketeers, a beautiful tradition has been saved
Recasting the Crown for modern Britain
This progressive historian’s real charge against the monarchic institution is one of “complacency”
Why the Intellectual Dark Web has failed
Internet ideologues have yet to formulate a coherent vision to turn their ideas into action
Plain Janeites
For all their admirable dedication, keepers of the Austen flame cannot be so protective
The death of charity?
The decline of religion and the fraying of our social fabric has made us meaner
Behind the sofa government
Current Tory strategy consists in hiding and hoping the voters don’t notice the mess
Dr Whitehall
Or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the Blob
