The biggest exhibitions of 2019
From 500 years of Leonardo to the Anglophile Van Gogh, 2019 promises an eye-opening year in painting and sculpture.
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2019: The big questions
Luther is as theatrically gritty as ever
Outrageous and flamboyant murders? Check. Creepy clown masks? Check. Gruff one-liners? Check.
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Olivia Colman film The Favourite is a vicious, rollicking period comedy
Colman’s Queen Anne is sweet and giddy and transparently bonkers.
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The 2019 Oscar predictions
And the Acadamy Award might go to…
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The best of 2019 on the stage
From endless Arthur Miller to the National’s sell-out Cate Blanchett vehicle, the forthcoming year in theatre.
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The Hurricane Tapes: a new BBC true crime podcast about a 1966 triple homicide
Middleweight boxer Rubin Carter was tried, convicted, and released twice.
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The Uncivil War is utterly and completely Benedict Cumberbatch’s show
What an irresistible performance Cumberbatch turns in: weird, committed, minutely observed.
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In winter’s eerie half-light, I hear animals calling back and forth and feel a tug of belonging
It’s a miracle that we are all here.
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Violent experiment or the original Love Island? The 1970s “sex raft” where women were in power
A group of attractive strangers floated 5,000 miles to see if having female leaders would make for a more…
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At my bedside, the nurse asked: would I recommend Charing Cross Hospital to my friends?
At first I couldn’t believe my ears, but then said “of course”.
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How I found out that avoiding social media is the only way to survive the #holidays
When everyone is curating Christmas on Instagram, it can leave us feeling like failures.
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Howard Jacobson’s Diary: I turn on the radio, primed for apoplexy, and discover only family entertainment
For one whole half hour I have not seen the faces of those lying, scheming, conniving, despicable scumbags who claim…
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Why 2019 could be the year of joyful singledom
A new female empowerment movement is encouraging more women than ever to avoid unfulfilling relationships in exchange for a better, independent…
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Jonathan Haidt interview: “I’m Jewish but I want my kids to read Mein Kampf”
The social psychologist discusses his book The Coddling of the American Mind and the age of identity wars.
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Alice Roberts Q&A: “Humans are probably doomed, but I’m still optimistic“
The biologist talks David Attenborough, appearing on Mastermind, and Barack Obama.
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Emmanuel Macron doesn’t understand his own people
The French president’s measures represent high-handed gestures from the rich to the poor rather than a genuine anti-austerity programme.
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Commons Confidential: Prepare for Borexit
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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If a few dozen refugees can end Sajid Javid’s holiday, Britain is not ready for the 21st century
Part of the row is nakedly political – the Home Secretary is considered to be one of the frontrunners for the…
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First Thoughts: HMV’s inevitable decline, my predictions for 2019 and the curse of press vilification
The internet behemoths are essentially parasites, leeching their sales from what Marxists might call actually existing shops.
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Leader: Philip Pullman’s well-deserved reward
Before achieving success as a writer Pullman was a teacher, and continues to campaign for literacy today, opposing cuts to…
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Leader: A bad year for Brexit
If exiting the EU is an ill-conceived project, then 2019 is a particularly poor time to enact it.
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