Features
The Red Hand Files
Two years ago, the songwriter Nick Cave told his fans that he’d speak to them directly — not through an…
The magic money myth
There’s nothing new about ‘new monetary theory’
Perfect presence
Finding hope in a year like no other
Ghosts of Christmas past
Seances, trikes and the miracle of tinfoil
Supernatural power
The triumph of Korean cinema
Discomfort and joy
The anxieties that long ago shadowed Christmas are back
‘People confuse sadness with darkness’
An interview with the American novelist Mary Gaitskill
A singular mind
Roger Penrose on his Nobel Prize, the beauty of physics – and why AI is nothing to fear
The nuclear option
I love Suffolk. This Christmas I will be there with my family and we’ll almost certainly walk up the coast,…
‘We won’t have zero Covid’
A scientific debate about the virus
Frankincense and myrrh
‘And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down,…
Balancing act
Chancellor Rishi Sunak on austerity, hill farming and celebrating Christmas as a Hindu
Afore ye go again
Could it really be 40 years since one was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature? Borne up…
Bride’s Notebook
I had a lockdown wedding. A 30-person, socially-distanced, sanitised church service was organised in under two weeks. Restrictions meant no…
Actress’s Notebook
To say that the past nine months have been tough is like saying a hurricane felt like a spring shower.…
The highlights of history
Which moment seems most significant or interesting?
Letter from Hawaii
In a normal week, I would jam with local musicians, but that stopped in March and we musicians miss the…
Musician’s notebook
My November was bookended by two characteristic displays of grace. I ushered it in by falling on all fours while…
Single girl’s notebook
What this government needs is a good dose of the London mob, which at its height in the 18th century…
A sketch writer’s notes
Eton’s free-speech rumpus must surely become a David Hare play, Goodbye Mr Had-Yer-Chips, starring Jeremy Irons as the headmaster and…
City of gold
Peter Ackroyd on the undimmed spirit of London
Catching moths
As darkness falls, a group of mainly middle-aged men set up traps of various shapes and sizes — some sophisticated…
Letter from Albania
Our heavily laden taxi turned off the main highway from Tirana and started to negotiate the rough, one-track road. The…
Making a meal of it
The absurdity of Covid pub rules
Belle époque
Meet Belle Delphine, the pink-haired online sensation
