Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a bright spot in a bland music industry
From our US edition
Kanye West 0, Swift 1
Alexander Larman
Alexander Larman is an author and the US books editor of The Spectator.
Sunday
Nick Cave’s musings on life, death and creativity
From our US edition
Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan reviewed
Thursday
Angela Lansbury was so much more than Murder, She Wrote
From our US edition
Her passing demands a reflection on a stunning career
Wednesday
Alan Rickman and the misery of being famous
From our US edition
He was an in-demand movie star yet it seemed to bring him only stress and unhappiness
Tuesday
Free expression after the Rushdie attack
From our US edition
It was an assault on literary free speech itself
Queen Elizabeth II made a difference — to Britain and the world
From our US edition
Her commitment to duty was remarkable
Monday
Is Will Smith too toxic to be taken seriously?
After 9/11, American comedians found themselves in a tricky situation. Make fun of any of the usual standbys of their trade – politicians, authority figures, Rudy Giuliani, anyone who wore a badge for a living – and they were liable to be shouted down in an angry chorus of: ‘Too soon!’ Yet if all the
Wednesday
Meghan makes it all about herself, again
Since the Queen’s death last month, the Duchess of Sussex has found it hard to maintain her usual vice-like grip on the world media’s attention. Rumours have swirled that relations between her and Prince Harry and the now-Prince and Princess of Wales are yet to improve — despite the surface show of amiability that was
Friday
Hilary Mantel — a death before her time
From our US edition
English literature has been robbed of one of its most fascinating voices
Thursday
Ken Burns’s angry new film
From our US edition
The director acknowledges ‘The US and the Holocaust’ was inspired by America First
Tuesday
Woody Allen’s non-retirement retirement
From our US edition
Whether he stays or goes, he’ll always be a tainted prospect
Friday
Why Harry has been allowed to wear his military uniform
P.G. Wodehouse once wrote that ‘it is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.’ Much the same might be said of Prince Harry, whose ability to bear grudges – and to make it clear, publicly, why he is doing so – has been displayed with remarkable consistency
The enduring brilliance of Mad Men
If you were one of the many millions who watched Top Gun: Maverick this year, it may have been a pleasant surprise to see Jon Hamm in the (admittedly thankless) role of Vice Admiral Simpson, who has to look stern and angry at the various transgressions committed by Tom Cruise’s protagonist. Hamm has been cornering
Wednesday
Remembering Jean-Luc Godard, one of the great film directors of our time
From our US edition
He was innovative, influential, and, at times, infuriating
Tuesday
The glorious rebirth of Brendan Fraser
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With a superb performance in The Whale, his acting career has taken on new life
Thursday
Queen Elizabeth II, our remarkable monarch
Queen Elizabeth II, who has died at the age of 96, was the longest-serving British monarch. From the uncertain beginnings of her reign, acceding to the throne at the age of 25 after the unexpectedly early death of her father George VI in 1952, to final years troubled by public outrage displayed towards her son Andrew
Tuesday
The Harry ‘n’ Meghan circus shows no sign of coming to an end
It seemed fitting that, for her return to Britain, Meghan Markle was joined at the One Young World summit in Manchester by none other than Sir Bob Geldof. The presence – on a Monday, no less – of the Boomtown Rats hitmaker-turned-all-purpose humanitarian was designed to show the worthy company that the Duchess of Sussex
Thursday
The Rings of Power just might turn Tolkien in his grave
From our US edition
The new Amazon Prime series is an exercise in artistic necrophilia
Tuesday
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land at 100
From our US edition
A century after its first publication, the poem still defies easy categorization
Friday
‘Oxford or Cambridge?’: the vacation edition
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Visiting university towns for a uniquely civilized — and wholly British — experience
