William Blake: Prophet of Hell
Why does the great Romantic poet appeal to so many atheists?
Arts & Books
How the TikTok generation is reinventing Classics
Amid heated debate over the future of the subject, new technologies are being used to democratise the subject
Why does Netflix’s The Dig exclude the women who photographed Sutton Hoo?
The filmmakers’ massaging of the facts tells us a lot about how middle-aged women are regarded by Hollywood
The best television shows in the UK this April
ITV's new crime drama Grace, plus the Vanishing of Suzy Lamplugh
The best new podcasts in the UK this April
The Battersea Poltergeist comes to life—plus 39 ways to save the planet
Arthur Conan Doyle and the case of the wronged Parsee
How the Sherlock Holmes creator helped a victim of racial injustice
The beautiful science of embryology
We can manipulate the cellular units of life as skilfully as a potter works clay
Brief encounter: Val McDermid
People might be surprised to know I’ve busked in the Paris Metro to earn money for food and wine.
What the British Empire did to us
Only by confronting our imperial past can society move on
The best films to stream in the UK this April
Michelle Pfeiffer exudes delightful poison in French Exit and Lee Isaac Chung's big-hearted autobiographical drama Minari
Why Sumption-sceptics should look again
The former Supreme Court judge turned lockdown critic has some sharp words on government overreach
Ishiguro’s AI tale for our times
Klara and the Sun is narrated by a robot who looks after a sick teenager. But the real drama is at the edge of the story
The best classical and opera in the UK to stream this April
The Waste Land revisited, plus Isata Kanneh-Mason performs in Manchester
The mind of God? The problem with deifying Stephen Hawking
A new biography argues the iconic physicist was shamelessly self-promoting and his reputation overrated
Conservatism: the longest view
Nationalists might appear to be routing Tory liberals. But it’s just the continuation of a centuries-long struggle between two tribes
How Adam Curtis gets into your head
The filmmaker talks about tyranny, the limitations of progressive politics, and myth of England
What fiction reveals about the Algerian War
Joseph Andras’s Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us stunned France when it was released—and also remains strikingly relevant to the national debates on colonialism today
The mystery of Britain's most famous funeral poet
Mary Elizabeth Frye wasn't much of a poet—but she put to paper one of the most famous verses on grief still celebrated today. Or did she?
Palmyra and the myth of civilisation
Dividing the world into the civilised and the barbarians is no way to understand Syria’s tragedy
Writing isolation—why Elizabeth Barrett Browning is the poet for our time
The Victorian poet was a literary star in her own day but has fallen out of fashion