Anjelica Huston is comprehensively upstaged in the BBC’s new Agatha Christie
Coincidentally, two of this week’s big new dramas began with a fourth wall-busting declaration of their narrative methods. At the…
A satire on the modern art market: The Violet Hour, by James Cahill, reviewed
A world-renowned painter becomes the ghost of his former self, betraying his instincts to embrace sterile abstraction – and even outsourcing his work to ‘a fabricator in Zurich’
Clouded memories: Ballerina, by Patrick Modiano, reviewed
An ageing narrator looks back 50 years to ‘a most uncertain’ period of his life in Paris and his relationship with a mysterious, elusive ballet dancer
The wonder of the human body
Gabriel Weston intersperses her guide to the structure and functions of the body’s organs with personal anecdotes and moral reflections
Are you offended by ‘hard-working families’?
Scarcely a day passes without a newspaper story about some absurd ‘language guide’ issued by a public body. This week…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband falling asleep at the theatre?
Q. At the age of 50 my brother-in-law has discovered a talent for acting and singing. He has joined a…
I’m the one who needs a carer now
My father was discharged from hospital with a plastic bag containing 13 boxes of pills and a vague promise that…
The case for a daily limit on social media posts
A few years ago, my old school magazine featured a pupil’s brief account of a geography field trip. Before the…
Do not be hypnotised by Trump’s America
I’ve been judging a beauty parade, but I hasten to add that no bikinis were involved. Four leading investment firms…
