catastrophe

A fable for our times

26 August 2023 9:00 am

When phylloxera destroys the vines on the Aoelian island of ‘S’, the inhabitants, forced to emigrate, blame the recently established prison colony

Ice and snow and sea and sky: Lean Fall Stand, by Jon McGregor, reviewed

1 May 2021 9:00 am

Jon McGregor has an extraordinary ability to articulate the unspoken through ethereal prose that observes ordinary lives from above without…

The creators of Breeders are locked into a game of How Far Can You Go

14 March 2020 9:00 am

Sky One’s Breeders (Thursday) bills itself as an ‘honest and uncompromising comedy’ about parenting. To this end, the opening scene…

Doors drummer John Densmore and Police percussionist Stewart Copeland. Photo: BBC / Somethin’ Else Sound Directions Ltd / Nico Wasserman

According to BBC4, what was one of the ‘most important inventions in modern music’?

12 January 2019 9:00 am

Here’s a tricky quiz question for you. What word completes this sentence from a BBC4 documentary on Friday: ‘The world…

Victorian music-hall comedy wasn’t funny. Why pretend it was?

5 December 2015 9:00 am

Let’s start this week with a joke: ‘You know Mrs Kelly? Do you know Mrs Kelly? Her husband’s that little…

If a novel about failure fails, does that make it a success?

6 June 2015 9:00 am

I must be an idiot for pointing out the failings of a novel that’s so screamingly, self-denouncingly about failure. Steve…