The king of cakes
"Yuletide revels were designed to see you through the dark days — and how dark they seem today"
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Underrated: Abroad
The ravenous longing for the infinite possibilities of “otherwhere”
A tripod in the sky
The view from above
Overrated: Home
The over-familiar pleasures of domesticity
Our American obsession has to end
We know county voting totals in Georgia but can’t name the French prime minister — and import American ideas too uncritically
Is Scottish independence now inevitable?
‘For anyone who cares about peace within the British Isles and liberal democracy without, there are strong reasons to oppose Scottish independence. But how? In the 2014 referendum the case for the
Mum’s army
‘From roughly 2015 onwards, the Mumsnet feminist forum became a key platform for gender critical discussion—or, as one less sympathetic American magazine dubbed it, “the ground zero for British transphobia”’
The year of viewing dangerously
Television in 2020 has been prescient, poignant and palliative
A turning point for moderate Islam
In an age of stark ideological cleavages, Muslims are living through a battle of ideas over the meaning of religion in the modern world
El pibe de oro — the golden kid
The life of Diego Maradona epitomised the working-class soul of Argentinian football and mirrored the country he loved
Don’t fear the Reaper
We have become reluctant to accept death as an integral part of life. Perhaps coronavirus will give us a more realistic attitude to mortality
The cult on Pennsylvania Avenue
A peculiar organisation is peddling exotic conspiracy theories about Joe Biden’s electoral win — but the Larouchians have long attempted to bend reality