Culture

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

Art as protest on university campuses

CW: rape. This week, Cornell University has made headlines as prosecutors reopened an investigation into...

Good grief! Why do we feel for the death of fictional people?

Whether it’s a mild sniffle or full-blown tears, I always end up feeling a bit ridiculous about the whole ordeal when it’s over. I mean, it’s not real, is it? Why do I waste my grief on things that haven’t happened, that will never happen?

Ralph Fiennes: from Hamlet… to Lear?

With his aquiline nose, translucent skin and deep pale eyes, Ralph Fiennes certainly makes an impression. And that is even before he speaks or emotes -...

Friday Favourite: Amantes de cartón

Amid the national and global chaos, Hugo Ortega’s new book of poetry Amantes de cartón (Cardboard Lovers) is a quiet yet powerful exploration of...

The Philosopher on His Way to the Shops

God! Ah, fuck! By breezy decree, He’ll kick me straight to fire and rot

Ordinary Dreams

I dreamt about you last night. It was not remarkable or extraordinary; You sent me to the local shops with a list of groceries,...

Review: Lost Horizon

Of all the emotions that may be stirred in one during the current Coronavirus lockdown, tranquility is perhaps not the most obvious choice. Yet...

Estate Birds

Out here they live all for one and one for all; Brutal towers have brutal rules.

Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet

While the machine of commerce rumbles on, cynicism towards the smoke and mirrors of modern brand manoeuvrings is never too far from the media,...

On the misuse of Orwell

The habit of thoughtlessly quoting or referencing George Orwell in political debate has become, like so many bad habits, so common that it is...

Review: Fiona Apple’s ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’

“All my particles disband and disperse/And I’ll be back in the pulse.” Music, to Fiona Apple, seems like a Schrodinger’s Cat kind of paradox; it relies...

Sense and Sexibility: A definitive ranking of Austen’s leading men

Welcome to my definitive ranking of Austen’s romantic heroes and, as an auxiliary ranking that I was not actually asked to add, my favourite...

Review: Jerskin Fendrix’s ‘Winterreise’

Weird things are happening in the world of pop music. Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen have bounced back from ‘Boom Clap’ and ‘Call Me Maybe’...

Cinema: The venue transcending the visual

Maybe if I had known, I’d have stopped to take a picture. I’d have kept that ticket. Maybe if I'd known, I would have...

Mastering the group-watch with cheap horror flicks

The credits start to roll once the house is completely overwhelmed by fire. The monster is somewhere inside, and it’s already been defeated. This...

Review: The Artist’s Way

This is both a book review and a book recommendation. Julia Cameron’s book - The Artist’s Way - is the perfect book to pick...

‘L’appetito viene mangiando’: why Southern Italian food is the best in the world

To make Italian food is a labour of love, and requires a love of labour

NT Live’s Twelfth Night: Review

The French philosopher and moralist Jean de la Bruyère once remarked “life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those...

A country without libraries: what we are missing

You might think that working in a library would be a nice, peaceful job. That’s what I thought too. After spending two years working...

‘The Last Five Years’: discussing adaptation, distance and theatre’s survival

Imagine if you could see how your relationships would end as soon as you started them. In The Last Five Years, this premise is...

Hidden in plain sight: Public art in Oxford

Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.

In Winter

if I listen to the breeze I hear night

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