The sad death of the pony ride
Pony rides were once a staple of every village, church and primary-school fête. A brusque, horsey mother would swing you…
Does the Met know what jihad means?
Ever since the atrocities in Israel more than two weeks ago, I have had one main thought. Yes, Israel has…
Mind games: why AI must be regulated
During my time in No. 10 as one of Dominic Cummings’s ‘weirdos and misfits’, my team would often speak with…
The miracle of watching a great string quartet perform
Joseph Haydn, it’s generally agreed, invented the string quartet. And having done so, he re-invented it: again and again. Take…
Basic, plodding and lacking any actual horror: Doctor Jekyll reviewed
Tis the season of horror, as it’s Halloween, which we celebrate in this house by turning off all the lights…
Surprisingly addictive and heartwarming: Netflix’s Beckham reviewed
If you’re not remotely interested in football or celebrity, I recommend Netflix’s four-part documentary series Beckham. Yes, I know it’s…
The case against re-recording albums
In 2012, Jeff Lynne released Mr Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra. Except it wasn’t. It was…
I’m not convinced Thomas Heatherwick is the best person to be discussing boring buildings
Architects are often snobby about – and no doubt jealous of – the designer Thomas Heatherwick, who isn’t an actual…
Why did this brilliant Irish artist fall off the radar?
Sir John Lavery has always had a place in Irish affections. His depiction of his wife, Hazel, as the mythical…
A Radio 3 doc that contains some of the best insults I’ve ever heard
A recent Sunday Feature on Radio 3 contained some of the best insults I have ever heard. Contributors to the…
If only Caryl Churchill’s plays were as thrillingly macabre as her debut
The first play by the pioneering feminist Caryl Churchill has been revived at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Owners, originally staged…
No one should trust the camera in the age of AI
Bryan Appleyard on photographic manipulation, past and present
In search of utopia: Chevengur, by Andrey Platonov, reviewed
After crossing the vast steppe, Sasha Dvanov reaches an isolated town where the communist ideal appears to have been achieved. But at what cost?
The force of nature that drove Claude Monet
A compulsion to paint en plein air would remain with the great Impressionist for life, as well as a questing need to find new ways to express what he saw and felt
Escape into the wild: Run to the Western Shore, by Tim Pears, reviewed
A chieftain’s daughter flees an arranged marriage with the Roman governor of Britain, enlisting the help of slave and risking both their lives
Now imagine a white hole – a black hole’s time-reversed twin…
Just as you can enter a black hole without leaving it, you can exit a white hole without entering it – but first you must understand what black holes really are
Ordinary women make just as thrilling history as great men
Philippa Gregory investigates the lives of English women over 900 years – in sickness, health, business, war, prayer and prostitution
A Hindu Cromwell courteously decapitates hundreds of maharajas
Through a mix of charm, diplomacy and coercion, Sardar Patel, Nehru’s uncompromising deputy, ensured that 565 princely states vanished from the map of India in 1947
Nina Stibbe’s eye for the absurd is as sharp as ever
Back in London after an absence of 20 years, she’s no longer a literary outsider – but she’s still an acute observer, relishing the foibles of everyone she meets
Was the French Revolution inevitable?
It was clear for decades in France that unrest was steadily building before public anger finally exploded in the spring of 1789, says Ruth Scurr
Why Israel is set to invade Gaza
If reports this evening are correct, Israel is stepping up its ground operations in Gaza. The Jerusalem Post quotes IDF…
