The two young women who blazed a trail for modernism in Ireland
In 1921, the sternly abstract cubist Albert Gleizes opened the door of his Parisian apartment to two young women in…
Trans men using women’s toilets isn’t always a problem
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission’s clarification of the Supreme Court ruling on what is a woman is not as…
The Pope’s funeral was symbolic of the man
The funeral of Pope Francis is perhaps his last chance to set his mark on the papacy. The ever so…
Pope Francis had his priorities right
After he emerged from the Gemelli hospital in Rome last month, Pope Francis put out a reflection on ‘hospital’. Some…
How Pope Francis kept the faith
As timing goes, a pope simply can’t do better than to die just after Easter Sunday. The moral of the…
Where the King went wrong on Maundy Thursday
It is an unfortunate truth that the picturesque Maundy Thursday service celebrated today in Durham, in which the King distributes Maundy money to deserving individuals, is…
Why shouldn’t Livia Tossici-Bolt try to prevent abortions?
How do you breach an abortion buffer zone protection order? Why, by being within 150 metres of any part of…
Why should cohabitees get the benefits of marriage?
One way or another in life, we end up making choices, even if we think we’re choosing not to choose.…
Are you Ramadan-ready?
‘Are you Ramadan-ready?’ That was the poster in Sainsbury’s advertising its delicious range of fast-breaking foods (rice was one). And…
Francis reveals himself to be a pope of two halves
The Pope’s autobiography is out and it’s still not entirely clear why. Carlo Musso, the ‘co-author’ of Hope: The Autobiography,…
When will the BBC stop adapting Julia Donaldson books?
Another Christmas, another BBC adaptation of a Julia Donaldson story. This time it’s an animated version of Tiddler, the story…
What Ed Miliband got right on Syria
It’s not every day I spring to the defence of Ed Miliband, Secretary for Environment, Net Zero and all the…
The Lion’s Mane, the Firework and terrible jellyfish jokes: the year’s best children’s books
Contemporary authors, including Rick Riordan, Kate di Camillo, Mark Forsyth and Michael Stavaric, share shelf space with welcome reprints, including the ever-terrifying Struwwelpeter
Assisted dying won’t work
Well, the pro-choicers have got their way. In two years’ time, if Kim Leadbeater’s reassurances hold good, we’ll have the…
The Taoiseach will get more than he bargained for in Ireland’s snap election
The Irish general election happens on Friday. In times past, observers would be marking the rise of Sinn Fein; now…
Stimulating little exhibition: Scent and the Art of the pre-Raphaelites reviewed
Scent and the Art of the pre-Raphaelites… there’s an obvious problem here: how do you represent one sense by another?…
The Wizard of Oz sequel that’s perfect for our gender-obsessed age
To not wholly rapturous reviews, the movie Wicked, the prequel to The Wizard of Oz, is released this week. Tragically,…
The great flaw in Labour’s assisted dying bill
Believe it or not, the most compelling argument against assisted dying today came from Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem…
Make pirates scary again
If there’s one thing to bring out your inner Herod, it’s the twee tendency in younger children’s books. It’s at…
The slippery slope of assisted dying
Critics of the Assisted Dying Bill have been warning for a while that it would lead to a ‘slippery slope’.…
The Christian view of sex contains multitudes
Lower Than the Angels (that is the condition of man, according to the psalmist and St Paul) is a book…
Dawn Butler’s bonkers black history poem
Oh. My. Lord. I’ve been looking at Dawn Butler’s spoken verse as presented by her on X and it’s difficult…
The sham of an assisted dying ‘citizen’s jury’
It is remarkable that the BBC decided to give the latest PR exercise in favour of assisted suicide a big…
Keep fun out of funerals
There are two untraditional ways to take your leave of this world in Britain. The bleaker is the ‘direct cremation’…
The desecration of Canterbury cathedral
According to canon 1220 of the Catholic church’s code of canon law, ‘all those responsible are to take care that…
