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
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal