How social media killed the pop star interview
Listening to Radio 4’s Archive Hour is a stark reminder of the loss of pop’s great philosophers.
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The rise and fall of Islamic State
So subtle is The Heiresses that character revolution is scarcely visible to the naked eye
After her vivacious partner’s imprisonment, Chela slowly outgrows her sullen, damp dish-cloth nature.
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Travels in Trumpland with Ed Balls is enjoyable, if undeniably cheesy, stunt journalism
The BBC Two series doesn’t tell us anything new about the motives of Trump voters, but it does remind us…
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Exploring dystopia through Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina and other graphic novels
With admirers including Zadie Smith, Drnaso’s uniformly bleak tale is the first comic to be longlisted for the Man…
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The Globe’s Othello and the National’s Home, I’m Darling suffer opposing problems
The former is oddly depoliticised, while the latter wants to make political points, but never quite lands them.
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Don’t waste valuable water on your lawn – you’ll only regret it when your vegetables bolt
We should not be surprised when plants bolt or run to flower and seed – but if they’re vegetables,…
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Freedom, flight, oxygen, breath, space: these themes whistle through Anne Tyler’s Clock Dance
Her 22nd novel, Clock Dance is neither Tyler’s best work nor her worst.
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Why a select group of men think Yorkshire is the sexiest accent in the world
A secret history of sex and the voice.
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Ticket to write: Derek Taylor’s front-line dispatches from Sixties counterculture
Diaries of the Beatles’ press agent illustrate his proximity to the cultural tremors of that extraordinary decade.
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Didier Eribon’s Returning to Reims is a potent memoir about the cost of changing class
Eribon feels no nostalgia for working-class life and mores.
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She’s driven 475 miles to meet me, and quickly gets handy with my vacuum cleaner
The rest of the tidying we shall pass over in horrified silence, except to say only that unloading the…
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A century on, the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins is still ahead of the times
Tortured visions of a poet priest.
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How climate change could bring deadly diseases to Britain
As long ago as 2001 the Department of Health warned that malaria might become endemic in the UK by…
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Alan Garner Q&A: “As we ran, Alan Turing asked me whether AI was possible“
The author talks Alcibiadesk, his portraits, and lifelong advice from his grandad.
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Christopher Andrew’s history of spying shows how undercover ops have changed history
Spying has been called the second-oldest profession – after prostitution.
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Master of his universe: the warnings in JRR Tolkien’s novels
Dismissed as reactionary fantasy and even labelled fascist, Tolkien’s novels told of the corrupting influence of power. He deserves to…
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Why millennials are looking for meaning in tarot cards
It makes sense that in the uncertain age of Brexit we all seek guidance and direction.
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The Nepalese girls who lost their childhoods
In 2002, Nepal outlawed indentured labour for children. Now, girls taken from their families are trying to make up…
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Why there’s no such thing as a civilisation
The West is obsessed with the idea that it is under threat, but that fear springs from a misunderstanding…
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The militant fandom of the “Beyhive“ has nothing on #WeAreCorbyn
Online attacks from superfans of pop stars have become the norm – now the same is true in the political sphere.
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The NS poem: Grief
A new poem by Royston Tester.
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Why I believe Donald Trump’s war on the free press will end with journalists being killed
This isn’t anti-Trump hyperbole. The warning signs are everywhere.
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How the Islamic State caliphate was lost
IS has lost control of most of the territory it once held. But it is not defeated and is morphing into…
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Andrew Martin’s diary: Steam engines, ear wax, and how class prejudice could have stopped Brexit
Britain’s preserved railway lines are a phenomenon of localism as much as nostalgia.
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The cost of Britain’s “bargain basement” model
The UK’s vast current account deficit is a symptom of its broken economic system.
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The Chingford Corbynite: Faiza Shaheen on her mission to oust Iain Duncan Smith
“Taking out IDS – every time I say that it makes me smile,” quips the newly-selected Labour candidate.
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How the pariah state Zimbabwe is wooing the West for business
President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa declared: “Zimbabwe is open for business.” In reality, it seems, the country is for sale.
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Commons Confidential: David Davis’s lonely meal for one
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Corbynsceptics and Corbynites don’t agree on much, but they share a delusion
Jeremy Corbyn’s hegemony within Labour is a truth that neither side really wants to acknowledge.
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Brexit stand-offs, Boris Johnson and the burqa, and the eerily early blackberry season
The Brexit negotiations are now in their downward phase, with Liam Fox rating “no deal” as odds-on.
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Leader: The hollow centre that the Liberal Democrats are failing to fill
With Labour and the Conservatives backing Brexit, these should be propitious times for the Lib Dems. But they are struggling to poll…
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