Books
Sea fever
From ancient Greece to TikTok: Alexandra Coghlan on the pulling power of shanties
The trying game
Rosie Millard dispels the myth that persistence is always rewarded
Merry blooming Christmas
No one captures better than Raymond Briggs the ambivalence that many of us feel towards the festive season, says Daisy Dunn
Blessed be the fruit
Laura Freeman is transported by J.C. Volkamer’s astonishingly beautiful ode to the citrus
Victorian values
Blackeyed Theatre is another victim of the virus. Its production of Jane Eyrewas midway through a UK tour, and due…
Spotted dick and custard
I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue has just been voted the greatest radio comedy of all time by Radio Times,…
High life
New York I received a letter from a long-time Spectatorreader, James Hackett, enquiring about books I am reading. It is…
Painting vs sculpture
In an extract from their book, Antony Gormley tells Martin Gayford that the 3-D will always trump the 2-D
‘We’re all members of the Stasi now’
The arts are everywhere under attack from those who claim offence, writes Nina Power. Irvine Welsh steps into the fray with a documentary on the new censorship
Riveting twosome
This week, two electrifying performances in two excellent films rather than two mediocre performances in the one mediocre film —…
Low life
‘Yes, I will have a coffee,’ said the van driver. He’d driven down to the south of France from Devon.…
Diary
I first visited Orford in 1970, at peak Cold War when this stretch of the East Anglian coast was one…
Porn again
A woman is eating a pie in her car as it gets an automatic wash. Careful to keep the pie…
In two minds
Can people of one race really understand the experience of another? asks Colin Grant
Peake practice
Mervyn Peake’s unsettling illustrations reveal a gentle, kindly man with the soul of a pirate, says Daisy Dunn
A podcast about the literary canon that actually deepens your knowledge (sort of)
While most of life’s pleasures can be shared, reading is lonely. It’s more than possible for six friends to enjoy…
When things fall apart
Okay, I admit it. I have a girl crush on Juliet Stevenson. Ever since I first saw her in the…
Floor show
Sophie Haigney on the weird and wonderful world of hotel carpets
Beige-washed Burton
The BBC has been having a good pandemic. Stuck at home, a generation raised on podcasts and YouTube has discovered…
The lost boys
The roots of incel subculture – and its magnificent memes – stretch back to Goethe’s Werther and beyond, says Nina Power
The joy of the drive-by birthday party
It is a relief to parents that young children are allowed out a bit now as the length of the…
Chef’s Notebook
I’d never have thought I’d be good at doing nothing. Or rather walking the dogs, loafing in the sun, trying…
The real deal – or not
One of the stranger things that happened in the period just before lockdown was the sudden disappearance of audiences from…
The dream is over
It started when, the day after the announcement of some lockdown easing, I drove five miles along the coast road.…
The wonder of Wodehouse
Everyone knows a Lord Emsworth. Mine lives south of the river and wears caterpillars in his hair and wine on…
