Reason, Religion and the Terror
Anthony Pagden's celebration of the Enlightenment swiftly turns into a sustained, and unwarranted, diatribe against religion
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Ten Billion Loose Ends
Two new books come to different conclusions about the geo-political impact of the coming population boom
Comfort For Sad Souls
George Herbert is the poet's poet. John Drury's biography is at times infuriatingly simplistic, but succeeds in its scholarship
A Voice For the Oppressed
The Dark Road is a novel that transmits the reality of human suffering at the hands of the Chinese government
Just Don’t Call it Science Fiction
MaddAddam occasionaly misses the mark, but at its best is an existential voyage and an exploration of storytelling itself
Tintin and the Cold War
Jonathan Coe's new novel is set at the World Fair in 1958 and he's captured the idealistic atmosphere where my father displayed an exhibit for the UK
No Laughing Matter
The fact that most of today's comedians are left-wing isn't necessarily the reason they aren't funny. It's because they aren't very bright
Is the Brain the Key to Understanding Religion?
The neuroscience of human nature now treats mind and body as a single integrated entity
Capitalist Capital
Now that London is driving a revival in the UK's economy there will no longer be any mileage in anti-capitalist rhetoric
Bookish Brummies
Finally, Birmingham has the library it deserves, and its predecessor will be thankfully turned to rubble
Stand Up For Surrey
All flashy shops and gaudy mansions? Think again. Surrey is still Pepys's 'old place of delight'.
Darwinian Disbelief
Kristina Carlson's Mr Darwin's Gardener proves that the God debate still generates copy and sells books