Why did no one think the premise of Mums Make Porn was questionable?
What can parents do about the avalanche of pornography available to their children on tablet, phone and laptop? This question…
Is the increasing secularisation of funerals a good thing?
‘You’re thinking these girls all wrong,’ Miss Mai tells Enid in Winsome Pinnock’s play Leave Taking, adapted from the recent…
Raw, frightening, overwhelming: Birmingham Opera’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk reviewed
You can see Graham Vick’s work at La Scala or the New York Met. But if you want to be…
The fall of Daniel Barenboim
A few years ago, I hooked up with a BBC team in Berlin to record a programme with Daniel Barenboim.…
Nyong’o is spellbinding but the plot is ultimately baffling: Us reviewed
Us is a second feature from Jordan Peele after his marvellous debut Get Out, which was more brilliantly satirical than…
I’m back in New York: the city that’s perennially offended
New York Goodbye, snow-capped peaks; hello, swampy brown East River. So long, fresh alpine air; greetings to choking diesel…
After ten weeks spent caring for my mother, I had to relearn the art of conversation
I said my goodbyes and went outside with my trolley bag to wait for the taxi. While waiting, I looked…
Professional villagers won’t rest until they have eliminated mud from the countryside
‘Don’t touch anything sharp. Don’t saw anything or drill anything or sand anything,’ said the builder boyfriend as he left…
Bridge
It’s exceptionally rare to pick up an 11-card suit. You might think it would happen at least once in a…
Family silver
The World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, finished last week with a victory for Russia but with an outstanding team…
no. 546
Black to play. This position is from Sasikiran-McShane, Astana 2019. Black’s queen is attacked, his knight is vulnerable and b7…
The big reveal
In Competition No. 3090 you were invited to submit a recently discovered lost poem by a well-known poet that makes…
2400: Unclued
All unclued entries are, unusually, not all unclued; all are different and there are no proper nouns. A repeated cryptic…
to 2397: Obit V
Albert Finney, a fine ACTOR (13), died on 7 February 2019. His legacy includes SATURDAY NIGHT (10) and SUNDAY MORNING…
Farringdon’s Quality Chop House is macabre, but at least it has character
I love the drug of television, which is slightly less awful than the drug of social media because the conversation…
Does a dark lantern give out light?
‘Does a dark lantern give out black light?’ asked my husband as if in delirium. He was reading a book…
Why the LGBT health panel isn’t diverse enough
On Monday, the government announced that Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equalities as well as the Secretary of…
How Scotland humiliated England in the Six Nations
Outside the rugby superhighway of the A316, linking Richmond, Rosslyn Park, the Quins and HQ, it’s hard to imagine anyone…
Dear Mary: how do I stop a man making lewd comments?
Q. My wife’s closest friend and her husband visit us every couple of months or so. Without fail he will…
Boys and the biff
Readers might be surprised to learn that Dr Peter Miller and his team of eager researchers at Deakin University are…
The Left’s bad joke
After the atrocity comes the inevitable blame game. Hardly waiting to draw breath, Wajahat Ali leapt into print in the…
Zeitgeist notes
The Inquirer section of the Weekend Australian March 16-17 kicked off with a veritable drum roll performed vigorously by editor-at-large…
Simon Collins
In the early 1980s I went out briefly with the daughter of a Thatcher cabinet minister, and spent several evenings…
Diary
A visit to Britain reveals growing anxiety that we’re witnessing the Great Brexit Betrayal. One of Twitter’s funniest and most…
