Architecture
Deepdene: Rise and Fall of the House of Hope
The magnificent palazzo where Disraeli’s Young England group used to gather is long gone, but its grounds have now been restored
Osbert Lancaster
Skewering social stereotypes through interior decor
Bookish Brummies
Finally, Birmingham has the library it deserves, and its predecessor will be thankfully turned to rubble
Demolish the Relics of Yesterday’s Future
People want homes, not the “housing units” offered by tower blocks, yet planners continue to sanction these unloved monstrosities
The Beige of Beijing
‘When I asked my winsome Han tour guide what would happen when the skyscrapers collapsed, she said with cheerful gusto, “We’ll build them again!”’
Legends of the Urban Landscape
A provocative new book by Jonathan Meades asks us to reassess the value of the under-appreciated metropolitan environment
Tolerating the intolerant
“For those who thought that a global pandemic would sound the death knell for identity politics, think again”
How to prevent the next pandemic
‘I have been reporting as a science journalist for years that the world is at increasing risk of pandemics like this; that this was predicted; that we know what we need to do to prepare and we simply haven’t done it; and that more and worse pandemics are coming so we need to do that, now’
D’où parles-tu? The post-truth world
Power, illusion and the open society: how postmodernism undermines our foundational concepts