‘Death is a very poor painter’: the 19th-century craze for plaster casts
Bourgeois homes in the early 19th century became ‘virtual museums of death’, with models of heroes jostling replicas of the hands and feet of lost loved ones
Bloodbath at West Chapple farm
Fifty years after its original publication, John Cornwell’s account of the Devon murder mystery involving three dysfunctional siblings remains as haunting as ever
My adventures in experimental music – by David Keenan
In pieces dating from 1998 to 2015, the ‘rock evangelist’ interviews the revolutionary musicians of the time and recalls the ‘beautiful shambles’ of the first gig he ever attended
Adrift in strange lands: The Accidentals, by Guadalupe Nettel, reviewed
A sense of unease runs through Nettel’s latest short stories as the protagonists start to lose their bearings in increasingly unfamiliar scenarios
Friends fall out in the English civil war
Bulstrode Whitelocke and Edward Hyde, close colleagues in the 1630s, find themselves on opposite sides in the bitter conflict a decade later
The benign republic of Julian Barnes
The novelist presents his utopia – of unilateral disarmament and the public ownership of transport – in the tone of a thoughtful vicar giving an anodyne sermon somewhere in the Home Counties
The road trip from hell: Elegy, Southwest, by Madeleine Watts, reviewed
Watts skilfully conjures a sense of impending doom as a young couple’s expedition to the American Southwest is threatened by deadly fires sweeping through California
The story of food in glorious technicolour
Jenny Linford explores the global history of cooking and eating through specific items from the British Museum spanning recorded history
Time is running out for the world’s great rivers
Overfishing, industrial pollution and dams are squeezing life from once revered waterways that have sustained civilisations for centuries
Time to honour our Anzacs and ramp up defence spending
Australia has a habit of being caught with its pants down when it comes to defence spending. In 1938, Australia’s…
Drink and despair
Our esteemed editor invited me to lunch a while ago. After three hours I had to leave because Qantas doesn’t…
Zelensky counters Trump’s surrender deal
I open the calculator on my phone to count how many civilians have been killed in Ukraine over the past five days. The…
Is a Scottish visa the answer to Scotland’s workforce crisis?
There aren’t many politicians calling for a rise in immigration to Britain at the moment, but you can count on…
Milei freed the peso. Argentina’s economy survived
It was Argentina’s ‘liberation day’, Javier Milei proclaimed last week after meeting US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Pink…
We don’t need a crackdown on killer cyclists
Wayward cyclists watch out: Keir Starmer is coming for you. The government has announced a crackdown against bikers who kill…
The welcome fall of Klaus Schwab
Hubris has a way of catching up to people. That was my first thought when I read that Klaus Schwab,…
Is the US getting closer to a Ukraine deal?
US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia this morning to meet with Vladimir Putin, as Donald Trump ploughs ahead…
Tory peer backs total nicotine ban
The generational smoking ban is (slowly) making its way through parliament, as part of Labour’s plan to ban nicotine purchases…
Jenrick: Give Kemi a break
Former Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has caused quite a stir this week, after a recording leaked to Sky News…
