Social media
Page turner
How TikTok can make a book a bestseller
The arrival of Godot
A Russian Doll is a monologue about Putin’s campaign to swing the Brexit vote in his favour. It stars Rachel…
Video nasty
The TikTokisation of global politics
A new cottage industry
Cottagecore, not to be confused with cottaging, is an aspirational lifestyle trend. The word is relatively new —although you’ll find…
Woman of the cloth
Laura Freeman considers how artists have depicted one of the strangest and most touching of the Stations of the Cross
Wilde at heart
BKLYN — The Musical gives itself a headache for no reason. What does ‘BKLYN’ mean? Perhaps it’s a random jumble…
The turf
Thanks to Covid, there could be no spine-tingling roar at the Cheltenham Festival this year as the first race runners…
Twitter, but with actual screaming
For my 13th birthday in 1995 I requested — and got — my own ‘line’. This meant that I could…
Advance warning
Too much weight is put on the idea of ‘progress’
Into the jaws of hell
Southwark Playhouse is beating the latest lockdown with a zingy new musical about social media. The performers, Francesca Forristal and…
The big tech bullies
I was in the kitchen preparing the family’s dinner when the inauguration of Joe Biden was on TV, so I…
Gulf stream
Instagramming from Dubai isn’t ‘work’
Control, halt, delete
Can anyone stand up to big tech?
@jack is the giant
Where is Jack? You know, Jack-the-Giant-Killer? The little fellow who caught the giant Cormaran in a deadfall and dispatched him…
Trump’s social media ban sets a dangerous precedent
Facebook and Twitter’s decision to suspend Donald Trump is, legally speaking, fairly clear-cut. Both are private companies which set the…
Belle époque
Meet Belle Delphine, the pink-haired online sensation
Twitter is in China’s pocket
Twitter has been quick on the draw when responding to tweets by President Trump in the last month, as he…
We need debate, not censorship
Earlier this week, the Labour party wrote to the government urging it to bring forward legislation so that social media…
High life
New York Back when people used to read newspapers, they called it a ‘human interest’ story. Now it appears as…
There’s nothing ‘wild’ about elopement
I didn’t realise how attached I was to the traditional British wedding — the whole messy, pricey, drunken business —…
Barometer
Worth a shot? How worried should we be about people refusing to have a Covid-19 vaccine if one is developed?…
Facebook is right. Twitter is wrong
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey opened up a Pandora’s box two days ago by dropping a fact-check on a tweet by…
Viral contagion
The uncontainable spread of fake coronavirus news
Watcher of the skies – and the coffee pot
‘To be recognised and accepted by a peregrine,’ wrote J.A. Baker in 1967, ‘you must wear the same clothes, travel…
Twitter is manipulating the election
Twitter announced last month it would start flagging content the company and moderators decided was manipulated to deceive their users.…
