Arts & books
Issue 168 March 2010
What makes Britain laugh?
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
Why do British comedians not talk about black people? Is a Madeleine McCann joke ever OK? And when is a Hitler moustache funny?
Comment (4)Paddling in the shallows
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
Dave Eggers, one of the most powerful figures in current American writing, has tackled Hurricane Katrina. But he fails to get under the skin of New Orleans
The limits of genius
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
Michael Scammell’s authorised life of Arthur Koestler was intended to restore the reputation of Stalinism’s great scourge. Instead, Koestler emerges as a monster
Cultural notebook: the real Pete Doherty
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
More strange stories from the world of Pete Doherty surface. But he’s neither tragic nor demonic: the truth is sadder and simpler
Unnatural selection
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
An elegant new book by one of the world’s most important cognitive scientists is an all-out assault on Darwinism. Unfortunately, its arguments are simply wrong
Private view: Chris Ofili
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
The mid-career retrospective of the paintings of Chris Ofili at Tate Britain is masterful, breathtaking and beautiful
Performance notes: obscure opera
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
Domingo may be at Covent Garden this March, but for a real operatic adventure head for the backstreets of Bloomsbury
Widescreen: the end of stardom
24th February 2010 - Issue 168
Does the popularity of 3D films and the fashion for casting unknown actors spell the end of stardom? No—and here’s why not
Issue 167 February 2010
The return of the master
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
Martin Amis’s twelfth novel reimagines the sexual revolution as a comedy of manners, with deadly serious intentions
Smallscreen: the best British sitcom
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
TV’s history of nurturing talent has led to some of the best shows ever. Thank heavens for the few still willing to think long term
The dandy of Strawberry Hill
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
A celebrity of the 18th century, Horace Walpole divided polite society. Now the re-opening of his home and a show at the V&A will restore his reputation, says Duncan Fallowell
The making of the middle east
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
If you want to understand who the modern Arabs are and how their relationship with the western world has evolved, you will not find a better book
Cultural notebook
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
Given what technology can now achieve, the enduring crapness of airplanes must serve some psychological purpose. Mustn’t it?
The greatest artist in the world
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
An art market boom generally catapults a relatively unknown artist into the major league, with suitable price tag. I think I know who the next superstar will be
Guilt, victimhood and the German ’68ers
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
A fascinating intellectual history of the 1968 generation of radicals in West Germany charts their descent into the very thing they professed to loathe
Yearning for chaos
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
Danny Kruger reports from his company’s work with ex-offenders
Widescreen
24th February 2010 - Issue 167
Last month in Prospect, Colin MacCabe argued that the UK Film Council was a failure. Film expert Charles Gant disagrees
Issue 166 January 2010
Illuminating the human heart
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
The Nobel winner of 2006 has defied the prize’s curse to write a rich novel that is both a tragic love story and an epic poem, nestled in its setting of Istanbul
Breaking the British movie myth
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
The government is wasting millions chasing the dream of a Hollywood-style film industry—at the expense of genuine innovation. But there is a solution
Cultural notebook
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
Why do celebrity chefs tell us how to cook Christmas lunch every year? Well, it’s all a big literary-theoretical experiment
Dispatches from hell
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
At the peak of his powers, TS Eliot battled misery and melancholia. This second volume of his letters offers a fascinating guide to these harrowing years
Smallscreen
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
If Sky is backing it, chances are that 3D entertainment is here to stay. Let’s hope the quality of content can keep up this time
Performance notes
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
2010 is the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s and Schumann’s births—and offers a timely reminder of the piano recital’s decline
Danish cartoons: the tyranny of moderation
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
An important new book on the Danish cartoons affair has been censored by the continuing threat of violence. It is another defeat for free speech
Unknown to the world
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
Danny Kruger reports from his company’s work with ex-offenders
Widescreen
24th February 2010 - Issue 166
Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame has the world at his feet. Can he learn from Lauren Bacall and take control of his destiny?
Issue 165 December 2009
Cultural notebook: days of the undead
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
Our fascination with horror films reflects the anxiety of the middle classes—caught between proletariat zombies and vampire toffs
The kindness of witches
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
Stieg Larsson’s fiction replaces Sweden’s socialist dream with an individualist nightmare. Is this what has made him the country’s biggest literary phenomenon?
Does terrorism work?
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
A new book offers a sober corrective to some recent misconceptions about terrorism, says Islamist expert Malise Ruthven
Tales of talent and cruelty
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
A biography of one of America’s greatest short-story writers eloquently depicts his battles with drink and depression, but fails to link that man to his art
The constitution will be televised
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
America’s longest-running and most influential prime-time television drama is an unlikely export triumph, writes Joy Lo Dico: a hymn to the constitution and to dreams of justice
Performance notes
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
What is the English National Opera for? Visits to the London Coliseum and a new official history have left me none the wiser
Private view
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
An exciting exhibition of “outsider” art also warns of the dangers of bringing this genre too far into the mainstream
Widescreen
24th February 2010 - Issue 165
I went to see a franchise horror movie hoping for mind-emptying mayhem. What I got was a shoddy dig at US domestic politics
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