Mark Fisher
A journey towards faith
A novel set during the Algerian war has chilling relevance to what is happening in the Middle East today
Notes from the departure lounge
Robert McCrum’s Every Third Thought asks: how, when, and where are we going after death?
Romantic Revolutionary
James Hamilton’s biography of Thomas Gainsborough offers a portrait not just of the artist but also of the worlds he moved through
Poetry Prospers
The anthology Hwaet! proves poetry is alive and thriving at the Ledbury Poetry Festival
The Value Of Victoria
Paula Bartley’s biography of Queen Victoria, based on the monarch’s letters and journals, brings out surprising contradictions
Where The White Stuff Came From
Edmund De Waal’s personal history of porcelain
Inside The Club
Conviviality and conversation at a bastion of the Establishment
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past