From a Low and Quiet Sea: making art from a perilous journey
Donal Ryan is one of the most notable Irish writers to emerge this decade. So far he has produced five…
From persecutor to preacher: the journey of St Paul
Saint Paul is unique among those who have changed the course of history — responsible not just for one but…
Corpses, clues and Kiwis in Ngaio Marsh’s posthumous novel
Publishing loves a brand. Few authors of fiction create characters who reach this semi-divine status, but when they do, even…
If you keep a pet raven, look out for your jewellery and car keys
With bird books the more personal the better. Joe Shute was once a crime correspondent and is today a Telegraph…
Drowning in superstition: a magnificent thriller of medieval England
Samantha Harvey is much rated by critics and those readers who have discovered her books, but deserving of a far…
The murderer who got away – and the woman who died in pursuit
This true-crime narrative ought, by rights, to be broken backed, in two tragic ways. One is that the serial attacker…
The artist who creates digital life forms that bite & self-harm. Sam Leith meets him (and them)
Digital art is a crowded field. It’s also now older than I am. Yet despite a 50-year courtship, art galleries…
A beautiful but bizarre show, beset by ‘great ideas’: Summer and Smoke reviewed
Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams dates from the late 1940s. He hadn’t quite reached the peaks of sentimental delicacy…
Unsensitive, Unhumane and Uncredible: Unsane reviewed
Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, Unsane, is a psychological thriller about a woman who is incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital even…
How the Moody Blues only became good once they realised they were crap
Rarely has one irate punter so affected a band’s trajectory. Without the anger of the man who went to see…
Intelligent, poetic and profound: Tacita Dean at the National and National Portrait galleries
Andy Warhol would probably have been surprised to learn that his 1964 film ‘Empire’ had given rise to an entire…
ENO’s La traviata was so comprehensive a flop that it is painful to go into detail
Handel’s Rinaldo has not been highly regarded even by his most ardent admirers. I have never understood why — even…
Shamelessly undemanding: ITV’s The Durrells reviewed
For as long as I can remember, Sunday nights have been the home of the kind of TV drama cunningly…
Vince Staples is Christian, yet it’s hard to imagine Jesus singing along to GTFOMD
Grade: B+ Another ex-Long Beach crip replanted in pleasant Orange County via the conduit of very large amounts of record…
The BBC admit they’re not ready to switch off analogue radio
As Bob Shennan, the BBC’s director of radio and music admitted this week, there are almost two million podcast-only listeners…
I’ll never again set foot in the Eagle Club
Gstaad A couple of columns ago I wrote about an incident that took place at the Eagle Club here in…
Has Provence cured my cancer?
During the past three years I have spent quite a bit of time in a rented house in Provence. Volets…
I’m mad as hell and not going to take it any more!
‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!’ I screamed through the window of the…
Kramnik’s Immortal
Every so often a game is played which is worthy of joining the immortals in the pantheon of chessboard masterpieces.…
no. 498
Black to play. This position is a variation from today’s game Aronian-Kramnik, Berlin 2018. How can Black briskly conclude his…
Averse to verse
In Competition No. 3040 you were invited to submit a poem against poets or poetry. Plato started it, but…
2351: Triplets
Unclued lights form three sets of three, each set related in a different way to a theme-word which is hidden…
to 2348: It’s a trap
‘Now is the woodcock near the gin’, said by Fabian in Twelfth Night, suggests the position of BECASSE in relation…
If Corbyn wins, emigrating to Israel is my clear escape route
I’m currently in Israel on a press trip organised by Bicom — the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. Bicom…
