How Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz helped me beat the lockdown blues
Netflix’s Pretend It’s a City relishes in vicarious conversation between two old friends
Arts & Books
Picasso’s Face—VS Pritchett Short Story Prize-winner 2020
It was probably a mistake to take the baby to the beach...
How the west sold out to the oligarchs
A captivating account of financial skulduggery in London reveals how far the City has fallen
The best theatre this January and February 2021—The Normal Heart and Iphigenia in Splott
Plus Choir Boy at the Nottingham Playhouse
Why in 2020 I couldn’t stop listening to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
In a surreal year, the band’s humour was a perfect balm
What Gabriel García Márquez knew about plagues
In his writing, Márquez uses disease as a device to illuminate and intensify his recurring themes of love, power and solitude. He then finds hardiness, heart and humour
A suitable re-read: What I learned from Vikram Seth’s great novel, second time round
Twenty-two years after A Suitable Boy came out, this masterly novel feels as relevant as ever to modern India
Brigid Brophy's festive love letter to the masked ball
The 1964 novel, reissued this winter, touches on many things currently out of reach—the festivity of large parties; the crashing tide of revellers bumping into each other; and the delights of dalliances with strangers
From the Crown to Cat Person: What's behind our inability to separate fact from fiction?
Our ways of reading and viewing are more complex now—and we've got a noxious modern habit of viewing art as mere vehicles for learning
Ten of the Prospect stories you read most in 2020
From our annual Top Thinkers poll to Brexit and—of course—coronavirus
John le Carré and the art of betrayal
The novelist was fascinated by the traitor’s bargains and self-deceptions
This best art exhibitions in the UK this January 2021—Epic Iran at the V&A and Francis Bacon at the Royal Academy
Plus Alan Davie's centenary celebrated at Edinburgh's Dovecot Studios
The vapid world of Berlin’s start-ups
A fictional satire lacks urgency
The case for more immigration
A punchy new work tackles the myths surrounding migration
Jacqueline Wilson: "I used to love going line dancing. Yee-ha!"
The author shares her regrets, favourite writers, and remembers an embarrassing encounter with fans in a toilet in Milton Keynes
The best podcasts this January 2021—How to Vaccinate the World and St Elwick’s Neighbourhood Association
Plus a fascinating criminal investigation in The Immaculate Deception
The polymath myth
Polymaths don't need to know everything
Can Joe Biden unify America?
A new biography describes a likeable if flawed figure
The best films in January 2021—One Night in Miami and The Dig
Plus Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, a fascinating quasi-documentary about a dive bar in Las Vegas