Lefties don’t know anything about farming
The artists and hippies are re-wilding their land, which is to say doing nothing at all to it and watching…
Amol Rajan is right to change his ways on ‘aitch’
My husband thought it brave and manly of the BBC’s Amol Rajan to resolve publicly to change his pronunciation of…
Player Kings proves that Shakespeare can be funny
Play-goers, beware. Director Robert Icke is back in town, and that means a turgid four-hour revival of a heavyweight classic…
How flabby our ideas of draughtsmanship have become
The term drawing is a broad umbrella, so in an exhibition of 120 works it helps to outline some distinctions.…
Inside the new Arab-Israeli alliance
As Jordanian fighter jets shot down Iranian drones heading for Israel on Saturday night, there were joyful cries of Allahu…
Baffling and vile: ETO’s Manon Lescaut reviewed
In 1937, John Barbirolli took six pieces by Henry Purcell and arranged them for an orchestra of strings, horns and…
Why does the West protect Israel but not Ukraine?
When Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles, they demonstrated what an effective air defence…
The triumph of Katharine Birbalsingh
There are two questions that need to be asked of any society: what is it that is going wrong; and…
Confessions of a defecting Starmtrooper
Next month, Keir Starmer is expected to lead his party to victory in the local elections. The Tories are forecast…
The Lebanese always return home
Beirut You might have thought that the threat of the Gaza war spiralling into an all-out regional conflagration, along with…
Are Stonewall and Mermaids charitable?
Iwas once asked by a colleague to sponsor him on an undertaking designed, he said, to raise money for a…
My letter from Chris Packham
I do not know Chris Packham, the BBC nature broadcaster, personally, but he wrote me a letter last month, enclosing…
The dangers of political prosecution
At the start of January, Donald Trump offered up a cheery new year message for Americans. ‘If I don’t get…
Trump has stolen a march on Biden
The Democrats dare to hope that this week will be a study in contrasts. On their side stands President Joe…
I always judge a hotel by its club sandwich
As a child I was fascinated by the exotic names of certain cities: Havana, Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles…
Portrait of the Week: the war on smoking, Trump’s trial and O.J.’s death
Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said that British fighter jets had shot down ‘a number of drones’ fired at…
A smoking ban is pointless and illiberal
Why is Britain poised to ban cigarette smoking, when the habit is already dying out anyway? Smoking is seen by…
Learning to live
Sometimes I Think About Dying is one of those titles you want to shout back at – what? Only sometimes?…
Kippers could save your life
I miss kippers. My wife won’t let me eat them at home, and they have become a rarity in restaurants.…
Danny Dyer’s new C4 programme is deeply odd
Who do you think said the following on TV this week: ‘I love being around gay men – seeing a…
Why garage punk is plainly the apogee of human achievement
How is it that a group that sounds like the Hives are selling out the Apollo? In a world configured…
We have lost an unforgettable teacher and one of the greatest living critics
Tanner, the critic RICHARD BRATBY Michael Tanner (1935-2024), who died earlier this month, had such a vital mind and stood…
