Arts & Books
The glory of the Hamlyn law lectures
How a little-known benefactor established an academic series of immeasurable value
Will theatre survive?
Digitally streamed plays and live Zoom performances have arisen as temporary solutions to the crisis. But practitioners are preparing some long-term changes, too
Comedy under attack
With performers facing pressure from all sides, and working against a backdrop darker than the darkest satire, how to rescue the art form?
The hidden pleasures of book hunting
During lockdown, piles of discarded books sprung up everywhere: outside houses, ranging along low walls, balanced precariously atop gate posts. Leafing through them set my imagination alight
The incomparable weirdo that is the octopus
A new documentary takes the viewer on an exquisite underwater adventure with one of biology’s strangest creations
The best theatre this November 2020—Adam Kay at the Apollo and the Death of England at the National
Plus a new season at the Theatre Royal
An engrossing tale of malevolent spirits
Kate Summerscale's new history is her most empathetic work to date
What Germaine Greer saw
Greer was and is far from perfect—but the Female Eunuch, published fifty years ago, will forever remain part of the canon
Why the Dark ages were anything but dark
Medieval Catholicism wasn’t the enemy of progress, it was its engine
Why an IRA man reads Tolstoy
A deftly-rendered history refuses to simplify a messy and tragic period
The magic of mushrooms forces us to rethink what intelligence means
The astonishing secrets of fungal life raise profound questions
Why the Germans do it better
We need to learn from a successful, grown-up, modern nation argues a new book by John Kampfner