Stephen Hough Q&A: “Silence is the necessary soil for any thought to flourish“
The pianist on Pope Francis, Line of Duty, and John Cage’s classic 4’ 33”.
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The new world disorder
What happened when a couple accidentally recorded two hours of their life
The cassette tape threw Dan and Fiona into a terrible panic.
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My son is shivering – precisely the response you want from a boy newly excited by drama
I can only assume theatre is in his blood, but not from my side of the family.
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I’m in the kitchen with my children, finally learning how to sharpen a knife
For some reason, they have often given me sharp things as presents.
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The Negroni fools no one – it’s easy to make and contains nothing but booze
It is the colour of danger, a red rag to anyone jaded by cocktail-world bull.
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Marathon Man and a marvellously gruesome dentist’s drill
William Goldman’s 1974 novel is adapted for BBC Radio 4.
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Netflix’s Ozark is overstuffed – not to mention tonally weird
Could the channel use a hit? Every time my subscription leaves my bank account, I think again that it…
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Dunkirk is an accomplished, expressive war film without the blood and guts
Christopher Nolan both stretches time and compresses it, creating suspense without horror.
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Why you should watch Harry Styles in Dunkirk
If you think casting the former One Direction star sounds like a disaster, you’re wrong.
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Herman Melville’s mystery: was Billy Budd black?
A newly unearthed photograph identifies the African-American Trafalgar survivor who appears in Melville’s final novel. Could the book’s hero…
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John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester contains as much tenderness as horror
The Mountain Goats musician’s novel has some structural problems, but is not without interest and insight.
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Bold frogs, helpful dogs and teen spies: the best children’s books for the summer
From toddlers to discerning teenagers, there’s something out there for everyone.
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Fasting and Feasting: the eccentric life of food writer Patience Gray
Journalist Adam Federman clearly venerates his subject, and his research is overwhelmingly diligent.
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The Sad Part Was: this story collection puts the real Bangkok on display
Thai author Prabda Yoon descends into the voices and minds of a small cast of characters.
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Sarah Hall’s dark short stories are fragments of lives wrenched out of alignment
The displacements in Madame Zero are literal, figurative and occasionally fantastical.
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Essayism is ultimately about how literature can make a difference
Brian Dillon’s study of the essay is a beautiful and elegiac volume – having read it, I re-read it.
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Moss Side Public Laundry, 1979
A new poem by Pippa Little.
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Long Road From Jarrow: a revolutionary tale of long-distance protest
Stuart Maconie tells the story of the men who marched from Tyneside to London.
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Uncommon People sweeps you along as if you were trapped in a mosh pit
David Hepworth’s account of the rise and rall of the rock star – from Presley to Dylan, Ian Dury to Kurt…
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Free money for everyone: will universal basic income ever happen?
The division of rewards between capital and labour seems to be growing ever-more skewed.
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The people is sublime: the long history of populism, from Robespierre to Trump
If liberal democracy is to survive, the tide of populism will have to be turned back. The question is: how?
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Murder by numbers: the legacy of the Grenfell Tower fire
It is difficult to refute the reality of suffering when the death toll is still being reckoned.
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The age of disorder: why technology is the greatest threat to humankind
Disruptive technologies might change the very nature of humanity – and no nation can fight on its own.
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What Jodie Whittaker as Doctor Who tells the rest of the world about Britain
If any silly kids’ show can say something about the country’s changing view of itself, it’s this one.
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Out with the old: how new species are evolving faster than ever
A future geologist will look back to the present day as a time of diversification, as well as extinction.
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Chain of command: how the office lanyard took over corporate culture
“I realised that I had to sort myself out with a new lanyard or I was going to struggle…
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Commons Confidential: Theresa May’s Swiss retreat
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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The Gupta scandal: how a British PR firm came unstuck in South Africa
Bell Pottinger was accused of exploiting racial divisions to deflect attention from a business family’s troubles.
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The UK press’s timid reaction to Brexit is in marked contrast to the satire unleashed on Trump
For the BBC, it seems, to question leaving the EU is to be unpatriotic.
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Stanley Johnson’s Diary
The author on iguana burgers, cricket with Boris – and what Russia really knew about Brexit.
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The Tories play Game of Thrones while the White Walkers from Brussels advance
The whole premise of the show is a pretty good metaphor for the current state of British politics.
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Do the Canary and co have the skill and stamina to take on the popular press?
The hyper-partisan digital left has adopted and adapted many of the old tabloids’ tricks.
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Tory feuds reveal a leadership contest is already under way
The jostling for advantage in the party will continue long into the summer and beyond.
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Tory arguments about public sector pay are misguided and divisive
The only oppositions that matter are between capital and labour, and between top executives and everybody else.
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Leader: The Brexit wars
Where is the wisdom and leadership required to guide Britain through this self-inflicted crisis?
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