Serving Mammon first
A review of Ziauddin Sardar’s Mecca argues that Islam’s most sacred city has been desecrated irrevocably by the Saudis
The butt of jests and ribaldry
A review of Wood, Whiskey and Wine by Henry H. Work, shows how the humble barrel has transformed our lives
Germ warfare within
A review of Why Aren’t We Dead Yet? by Idan Ben-Barak describes the complicated germ warfare being conducted daily within us
No accounting for greed
In A Theft: My Con Man, the author Hanif Kureishi describes how his trusted friend and accountant swindled him out of a fortune
Tales of the Occupation
In a review of Suspended Sentences by this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Paris and the Occupation of France take centre-stage
What you’ll never find in the road atlas
A review of Britannia Obscura by Joanna Parker reveals a Britain — mostly subterranean — we scarcely knew existed
Goodwill to Men
Overheard in advent was this complaint of a bus driver to a passenger, ‘Don’t call me brother! We’re not of…
Mao’s violent disciple
A review of Michael Dillon’s biography of Deng Xiaoping reveals the Chinese leader’s ruthlessness in the great famine and the Tiananmen Square massacre
As No Art Is
The weekend’s on us, and no means of soothing it or kissing it away. The flat facades of mansion blocks…
In a world of their own
Cilla Black, Joey Essex, Roger Moore, Dermot O’Leary and Luis Suárez come under Christopher Howse’s scrutiny
Sistema’s secrets
An explosive new book uncovers abuse at the heart of one of classical music’s most revered institutions. Damian Thompson finds it’s the tip of an iceberg
Life force
Two exhibitions in Norwich celebrate the Life Room of John Wonnacott and John Lessore that marked a high point for this time-honoured practice
In from the cold
The National Gallery’s Peder Balke show, full of epic sea storms and frozen desolation, is a revelation
Chorus of approval
Peter Phillips is interested to see even arch-modernist Harrison Birtwistle turning to tonality in his latest work for the Merton Choirbook
Dance One last dance
Ismene Brown is intrigued by an 18th century baby shower, spooked by a worldweary Dracula, bored by an overlong Rambert triple and disappointed by Len Goodman and Lucy Worsley
Rameau resurrected
2014 was the 250th anniversary of one of great French musical adventurers, Jean-Philippe Rameau. Were the celebrations generous enough?
Sin city
Plus: a gripping analysis of the addict’s psyche as it yo-yos between despair, euphoria and another crack pipe at the Tristan Bates Theatre
Saints and sinners
But you can imagine Murray’s eyes lighting up when he first saw the script - drinking! Smoking! Whoring! Betting!
A dose of good sense
Two programmes on Radio 4 this week explore how it is not cash that our health systems lack but a way of processing all our knowledge
High life
One by one the taverns that made the city hum with Runyonesque characters are being replaced by the sleek and the glitzy
Low life
The man from the Daily Mail was as great a traveller as that Satanic-faced Victorian Sir Richard Burton
