Birds
How John Egan has stayed in the saddle
Pop stars rock on nowadays into their seventies. And jockeys too – despite the physical dexterity and instant-decision-making required –…
Labour is risking the future of racing
The only political party with a serious chance of winning office I will ever vote for again is the one…
Remembering the horror of Rwanda’s genocide
Rwanda It had been more than 30 years, yet I recognised the church and its surroundings instantly. Superimposed on the…
The mystical masterpiece from Stalag VIII-A
A meditation on Quartet for the End of Time, Oliver Messiaen’s great prison camp composition, should bring the strange, bird-fixated religious avant-gardist new admirers
I’m losing the will to hunt
Laikipia, Kenya When I was eight I used to go fishing in the Indian Ocean beyond Vasco da Gama’s pillar…
Survival of the hottest: evolution’s fun side has been long overlooked
The theory of evolution is dominated by the utilitarian logic of natural selection: adapt or die, survival of the fittest.…
Who will dress Keir Starmer now?
It is worth upholding the stuffy point which should have prevailed at the start. It was always improper and unethical…
Porcelain-painting during the French revolution
People don’t accumulate stuff any more. When the late Victorian houses on our street change hands their interiors are stripped…
The sad history of the Hawaiian crow
Sophie Osborn describes how this sociable, inquisitive, loud-cackling bird became extinct in the wild – and her own efforts to save the California Condor from the same fate
Early birds
As the owner of a radio alarm clock, I could theoretically start listening to the Today programme before I’m even…
Among hawks and doves
Adapt or die. That brutal Darwinian dictum is too blunt to serve as the motto of Dinosaurs, Lydia Millet’s slim,…
Killer in our midst
Red kites should never have been reintroduced to Britain
Letters
The lie’s the thing Sir: Your leading article (‘Partygate’s hangover’, 2 April) maintains that if the Prime Minister receives a…
Gull power
These ‘endangered’ birds are taking over
God’s first draft
Readers familiar with Sheila Heti’s work, most notably How Should a Person Be? and Motherhood, in which she examines both…
Alan key
Given my affection for M*A*S*H, I can’t think why I haven’t listened to Alan Alda’s podcasts before now, besides the…
Bitterns
Bitterns are booming, both literally and metaphorically. These handsome brown birds from the heron family make a noise quite unlike…
Letters
China has peaked Sir: Niall Ferguson makes some good points about the nature of Xi Jinping’s imperial aspirations but misses…
Words take wing
When Helen Macdonald was a child, she had a way of calming herself during moments of stress: closing her eyes,…
Owls
My tawny owl has been self-isolating. I say mine but in truth she chose the nest box in my neighbour’s…
Starling murmurations are a display more dazzling than fireworks
It’s late afternoon in the car park of Workington Asda. A little crowd is gathering in one corner, most of…
Everything under the sun: The glory of garden centres
Don’t you just love garden centres? You have to be mad to go on a sunny Sunday morning in the…
Why vegans must not own cats
Is it ethical for vegans to own cats? It’s an interesting question because vegans look set to take over —…
A duck ducks and a swift is swift – so what about the lapwing?
Some birds seem inherently comical. I can’t help being amused by the duck taking its name from its habit of…
