How to save Conservatism
The former Work and Pensions Secretary on the fallout from his shock resignation
Stress point
All I need is a clear job description, mastery of my space, and the absence of a ‘team’ that is ‘on my side’
A mirror to the world
The latest crop of anniversary books shows just what an astonishing mirror to changing culture his work can be
Get thee to a notary
John Kerrigan’s examination of the many vows, oaths, promises, pledges and profanities contained in Shakespeare’s plays provides further rewarding reading
When in Rome…
Roberto Bolaño’s ‘novelita’ of orphaned siblings and mute lookalikes planning a crime spree in Rome ends in a strange red glow of ambiguity
Two gone girls
When a cold case of child-murder is reopened, the investigator’s own daughter goes missing in Hideo Yokoyama’s spellbinding thriller, Six Four
Not so bird-brained after all
One’s a perfect genius and the other’s a perfect mystery, say Jennifer Ackerman and Tim Birkhead, in two enthralling new books on bird behaviour
More blood and tears
After a spell of clean living in Santa Barbara, Renton’s frenemy returns to Edinburgh, and more carnage, in Irvine Welsh’s The Blade Artist
Thetans under threat
Lawrence Wright’s astonishing exposé of Scientology, which appeared in the States in 2013, has finally found a brave British publisher
Symbols of eternity
Bob Brier reveals how most of these great symbols of eternity, now lost to Egypt, have ended up in the Eternal City
All the world’s a stage
Kings of War is the brainchild of Belgian director Ivo van Hove, who explains why Shakespeare is often much more dramatic when not done in English
Death and the Bard
The cause of the Bard’s demise has always been pretty shadowy. Some say he died of fever, others syphilis. Lloyd Evans examines the evidence
Shakespeare400
Shakespeare400 has made the playwright into a brand, an icon to be name-checked but rarely grappled with
Whose opera is it anyway?
Obscurity is the order of the week: London Handel Festival offer up Handel's pasticcio Elpidia and oratorio Alexander Balus, while London Mozart Players reconstruct Mozart's Goose of Cairo
Picture books for grown-ups
On its 10th anniversary, the Cartoon Museum celebrates an underrated art form in which the British excel, as demonstrated by the works of Posy Simmonds and Bryan Talbot
The female gaze
In the battle between men and women choreographers, the Mariinsky’s all-male line-up at the Millennium Centre won out over Rojo’s She Said triple at ENB
There may be trouble ahead
The difference is at least Daphne doesn't expect me to sit and watch her for 98 minutes
The Jezza effect
This improbable scenario is the only weak link in Corbyn the Musical at Waterloo East. Plus: Boy at the Almeida is the finest homily on alienation I've ever witnessed
Written on the body
Plus: the World Service's interview series Where Are You Going? is a simple format that stumbles upon powerful stories
Special delivery
Plus: how was it that BBC2's The People v OJ Simpson continued to grip despite us knowing the outcome of the story?
