Wells farrago: gaslighting the Invisible Man
Books and ArtsPriapic shower-stalking and domestic haunting were never Wells’s style – not on the page, anyway
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
Cats: The Snuff Movie
Books and ArtsToo many Netflix true-crime documentaries are tiresome and overlong. This one was a lot worse than that
February 16, 2020
The true cost of celebrity inauthenticity
Our heroes damage more than just themselves when they warp reality
February 10, 2020
The age of celebrity is dead
The internet has killed the Hollywood star
January 31, 2020
The sad conformity of Taylor Swift
Where is the bravery in saying exactly what your industry wants you to say?
January 29, 2020
Land of hope and Victoria: The Kinks’ lost empire
Books and ArtsBy 1969, Churchill was dead and the Kinks, as an album group, were toast
January 28, 2020
Stalin at Yale
Art history for the age of identity politics
January 27, 2020
The Witcher’s hours
Books and ArtsMedieval gore for millennial gamers
January 25, 2020
Stayin’ alive in ’75
Books and ArtsMeryl Meisler’s photographs captured the family life and nightlife of Seventies New York
January 22, 2020
Style on steroids: the power of Jerry Bruckheimer
Books and ArtsBruckheimer may think that the Oedipus Complex is a Greek shopping mall, but the set-ups of Bad Boys and Top Gun are classical
January 21, 2020
Laurence Fox made me go into hiding
I called the FBI but so far they have not called me back
January 14, 2020
Stephen King and the warped morality of identity politics
Liberals as a whole still tend to believe that people (and the art they make) deserve to be judged individually and on their own merits
Vince Vaughn owes me a colon cleanse
Your foul and reckless actions have caused my intestines to spasm
January 13, 2020
The media horror at Joker’s Oscar nods is deeply predictable
It’s almost as though Hollywood itself has had enough of the protests, the lectures and the scolding
Is he talking to us?
Books and ArtsDe Niro should live up to his movie characters and stop his knee-jerk dissing of Donald Trump
January 12, 2020
Roger Scruton’s death impoverishes us all
Dominic Green recalls his September 2018 conversation with the late philosopher
All modern art is quite useless
Books and ArtsThe contemporary artist doesn’t expect to have to suffer for what he calls his art. Away with the garret!
The Hayes of our lives
Books and ArtsA soul survivor whose sonic alchemy endures
January 10, 2020
The soft power of Italian jazz
Books and ArtsEat to the beat
January 6, 2020
Finally, Gervais said something I agree with
I whole-heartedly supported his decision to omit tributes to the deaths of white people until more actors of color are included
January 3, 2020
A hero for the Snowflake age
Books and ArtsTom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is now a politically correct pantywaist
Is Kevin Spacey crafting a final masterpiece?
His videos are fascinating examples of the sheer uncanniness of American life
December 26, 2019
We’re deep into Cats
Why T.S. Eliot, who loved cats, might have liked this feline filth
December 24, 2019
A former Fox producer separates the fact from fiction in Bombshell
The Fox News aesthetic is as consistent as it is rigorously enforced
December 23, 2019
Christmas crackers: the tragic soul of Natalie Cole
Books and ArtsNatalie Cole had an instant pocket pop career. Her family, she said, were like ‘the black Kennedys’; and look how the Kennedys turned out
December 16, 2019
Star Wars: the force a-weakens
Books and ArtsIn space, no one can hear you yawn
The call of the wild
Books and ArtsPod help you in the wilderness
December 15, 2019
Richard Jewell was a victim of ‘fake news’
Over two decades ago, the security guard hero’s life was ruined by an agenda-driven media
December 11, 2019
Why is everyone pretending reporters never sleep with sources?
The Twitter reaction to Richard Jewell is completely expected and completely contrived
