For most people, the festive period conjures up images of twinkling lights, family gatherings, and the warm fuzzy glow of over-indulgence. For the doctors and nurses on my A&E ward, it presents a rather different reality: one defined by constant …
Otto Weininger: godfather of the manosphere
On 4 October 1903, a 23-year-old man went to the house where Beethoven had died in Vienna and shot himself. Otto Weininger felt himself to be a great genius; he hoped in his final moments to absorb some of Beethoven’s …
A murder in Pennsylvania’s swing county
It was just before 2.30am, on a crisp Tuesday morning, when Tyrell Holmes was set on fire. Few were awake to hear his shrieks. By the time the police arrived, Holmes had collapsed dead, his corpse smouldering next to a …
Why Japan loves festive KFC
In Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel Silence, the apostatised priest Cristóvão Ferreira tells a Portuguese compatriot a bitter truth about Japanese Christianity. “The Japanese till this day have never had the concept of God,” he proclaims, “and they never will.” For …
When I met Luigi Mangione
After the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was revealed to be Luigi Mangione, a bright young man from a well-to-do family, thousands of pundits rushed to tell us why he did it. I, however, held back because, unlike …
How Britain shames its elders
Christmas is a chance to end a miserable year on a high. That means raucous office piss-ups, anarchic family get-togethers, and impish toddlers greedily unpacking their stockings. Not so for our elderly, though. A shocking number spend the festive season …
Who governs Georgia?
On Rustaveli Avenue, just outside the dappled cream facade of the Georgian parliament, people in the crowds of protesters are kicking footballs around. They stand in circles, pinging the ball between them; pairing off, they pass it rapidly to one …
The flaws in the Lucy Letby case
Appearing for the Crown in a murder trial he was hoping to lose, a senior colleague once quipped: “People want to know how we defend the guilty, but the really tricky thing is prosecuting the innocent.” I’ve only done it …
The cruelty of gentle parenting
It’s the tone of voice that is the worst part. You know the voice. “What kind of choice do we want to make, Aiden?” “Ella, we use gentle voices with each other.” “Liam, do you think your behaviour makes Luna …
Donald Trump’s cultural renaissance
It is certainly possible to hope that the inauguration of Donald J. Trump will be greeted by a resurgence of the American spirit, from new inventions to a revival of entrepreneurial drive and the renewal of American industry and crafts. …
A food apocalypse is coming
In the dystopian drama The Last of Us, a fungal virus has spread through foodstuffs turning infected humans into zombies. The survivors live in ghettos, among the ruins, armed to avoid a gruesome living death. They grow their own food …
The grief of Gaza’s Christians
Just as they do in England, Gaza’s Christians normally celebrate Christmas with a special meal. It might be stuffed lamb or chicken, with a rich array of salads, vegetable stews, flatbreads and fragrant rice. Their traditional dessert is burbara, a …
Cousin marriage isn’t ‘unspeakable’
The vibes continue to shift. Five minutes ago, “cousin marriage” was the punchline to a highbrow joke about the Hapsburg Jaw, or perhaps a lowbrow one about what counted as Normal for Norfolk. Now all of a sudden, the relative …
Cousin marriage isn’t ‘unspeakable’
The vibes continue to shift. Five minutes ago, “cousin marriage” was the punchline to a highbrow joke about the Hapsburg Jaw, or perhaps a lowbrow one about what counted as Normal for Norfolk. Now all of a sudden, the relative …
The Leopard holds a warning for Europe
The great unification processes of the late 19th century inspired some of the world’s most famous authors. In 1886, Henry James explored the triangular relationship between a Confederate War veteran from Mississippi and two New England feminist abolitionists in The …