Voters are buying what Burnham is selling
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Therapy speak is turning us into sissies
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Burnham’s Britain and Wales’s absurd decolonisation drive – with Antony Beevor | The Edition
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An intelligent mix of culture, food, style and property, plus where to go and what to see.
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On the bourbon trail in Cincinnati
From Spectator LifeCincinnati. Wow, what a city! Who knew? Well, nobody, judging by a straw poll of dim and dozy friends, most of whom didn’t even know where it was. One was genuinely convinced that Cincinnati was in either Sardinia or Sicily but couldn’t confidently say which. Another vaguely recollected that trash TV host Jerry Springer had once been its mayor and that Cincinnati was most definitely in Ohio: ‘You know, down by Georgia, Alabama and, um, Nevada.’ A third had heard that Vice-President J.D. Vance lives in the city, and that abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe once had. All Simon knew was that it was home to consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble.
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Andy Burnham’s centrist act isn’t fooling anyone
Andy Burnham’s centrist act isn’t fooling anyone
When Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood arrived in Downing Street on Monday afternoon, the image of political rivals arm in arm symbolised a new government of differing views taking shape. It might have been more awkward. As they neared the door of No. 10 and the waiting television cameras, Miliband turned to Mahmood and asked: ‘Should we turn around for a photo together?’ Mahmood gave the idea short shrift: ‘We’re not getting married, Ed!’ But in a sense Labour is seeking a new relationship with the British public and everyone around Andy Burnham is alive to the importance of images, symbols and vibes. As Wes Streeting, the new Defence Secretary, put it in cabinet on Tuesday: ‘We have a second chance to make a first impression with the voters.
Andy Burnham’s centrist act isn’t fooling anyone
When Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood arrived in Downing Street on Monday afternoon, the image of political rivals arm in arm symbolised a new government of differing views taking shape. It might have been more awkward. As they neared the door of No. 10 and the waiting television cameras, Miliband turned to Mahmood and asked: ‘Should we turn around for a photo together?’ Mahmood gave the idea short shrift: ‘We’re not getting married, Ed!’ But in a sense Labour is seeking a new relationship with the British public and everyone around Andy Burnham is alive to the importance of images, symbols and vibes. As Wes Streeting, the new Defence Secretary, put it in cabinet on Tuesday: ‘We have a second chance to make a first impression with the voters.
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
A Sound of Music with brains as well as heart
From the magazineIf you’re interested in how words work with music, the collected lyrics of Stephen Sondheim are an investment you’ll never regret. But Sondheim isn’t infallible, and when he writes about his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II he’s often plain wrong. Sondheim mocks one particular lyric from The Sound of Music: ‘Like a lark that is learning to pray.’ ‘Wait a minute – a lark praying?’ he snarks. But the character who sings those words is a devout young Austrian woman with a head full of Schubert and folksongs. Hammerstein is writing as Maria, not himself. It’s an art that Sondheim never quite mastered, which is why his characters – whether Swedish aristocrats or East End cannibals – all sound like New Yorkers in therapy.
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The Victorian Hieronymus Bosch
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Cartoons
‘‘How many prime ministers have I missed?’’
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‘‘He’s not the messiah, he’s a very northern boy.’’
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‘‘Andy wants to tour the country and meet some of his subjects’’
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