Matthew d’Ancona
17 October 2026
Slavoj Žižek on Trump, Musk and the antichrist
In his new book Signs from the Future, the great philosopher decodes today’s chaos and warns of worse to come
Read the full article12 October 2026
Trump’s snuff politics is a new low in American cruelty
The president is using barbaric spectacle as a political weapon – and the damage will go on long after he has gone
Read the full article10 October 2026
There’s no reckoning for Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning
Aaron Sorkin’s film is gripping and scary, yet the Facebook founder and his toxic legacy remain untouchable
Read the full article07 October 2026
We are all Keynesians now
James Graham’s new play about the great economist has a powerfully contemporary message for our own times – a moment for government to act, intervene and address the huge challenges of the 21st century
Read the full article03 October 2026
Tom Cruise's Digger is a magnificent, go-for-broke climate satire - with a hell of a twist
Daring and polarising, Alejandro G Iñárritu’s film reminds us of the important difference between culture wars and authentic argument about art
Read the full article29 September 2026
Worried about the AI apocalypse? You’re already living in it
The instant gratification supplied by AI assistants masks their greatest danger – their use is plunging us into an abyss of isolation, digital sedation and perpetual cognitive infancy
Read the full article26 September 2026
How Salman Rushdie rose again
Alex Gibney’s documentary Knife shows the ‘wounded happiness’ of a writer returning in triumph to the venue where he was nearly killed
Read the full article23 September 2026
What happens when we forget Hitler?
The second world war forged our moral order. As memories fade and the truth is twisted, that is falling apart – and no one knows what will replace it
Read the full article19 September 2026
The Slow Horses ride again in Britain's spy renaissance
The Gary Oldman-led thriller’s sixth season kicks off a wave of espionage entertainment
Read the full article14 September 2026
The new, organised far right threat to Britain
Dressed as Ulster paramilitaries, Patriot Platform represent a deep set of prejudices that cannot be countered by the facts. That makes them all the more poisonous
Read the full article12 September 2026
The Bayeux Tapestry and the continuing allure of all that Norman wisdom
The great tapestry has returned to the land of its birth and can be seen in the British Museum. How could this not be a moment to savour?
Read the full article09 September 2026
BORN IN THE FIRES OF 9/11
Matthew d’Ancona’s stunning essay 25 years after the day that changed everything, everywhere
Read the full article05 September 2026
What happens when the world stops reading books?
James Marriott's new book warns about the dark consequences of a new, post-literate age
Read the full article01 September 2026
The Bayeux Tapestry’s medieval message for our times
Back in Britain for the first time in nearly 1,000 years, it has much to say about faith, nationalism and the apparent magic of AI
Read the full article29 August 2026
Pedro Almodóvar exposes the cold heart of art
A vampiric director exploits his own characters in the master film-maker’s witty, honest Bitter Christmas
Read the full article22 August 2026
Cate Blanchett’s role-swapping reunion with Nina Hoss is an audacious triumph
Electra/Persona merges Sophocles and Bergman with enthralling results
Read the full article18 August 2026
The Democrats’ secret plan to elect JD Vance
Anyone connected with the Trump disaster should be beatable in 2028 – but they are making the VP look like the safest choice
Read the full article15 August 2026
The profound lesson Tony teaches us about Anthony Bourdain
Dominic Sessa is formidable in the biopic about the making of a celebrity chef
Read the full article05 August 2026
Nolan’s true message? When reading dies, so does civilisation
His film has put The Odyssey on the bestseller list – yet a third of adults in the UK say that they have already given up on books
Read the full article01 August 2026
Female serial killer thriller Furious is prestige TV at its best
Emmy Rossum and Lola Petticrew shine in a show that's far deeper than a standard cat-and-mouse cop drama
Read the full article27 July 2026
Need to raise taxes? Tell them a new story, Andy
Higher rates should be the end, not the start, of a new narrative of citizenship and statecraft
Read the full article25 July 2026
Apocalyptic heatwave thriller The Rapture will sweep you away
Ruth Madeley is excellent in a sharp drama of faith, prophecy, and corruption
Read the full article22 July 2026
Have you got ‘Odyssey Derangement Syndrome’?
Christopher Nolan’s masterwork is a smash hit. It has also driven plenty of people mad
Read the full article20 July 2026
Do you care that Burnham is a Catholic? You should
The new prime minister is no theocrat. But he has been quite open about the influence of religion upon his politics
Read the full article17 July 2026
The Odyssey is a masterwork that reinvents the epic
Christopher Nolan’s grand vision confirms him as the David Lean of his generation, the IMAX magus
Read the full article13 July 2026
Ann Widdecombe changed politics – and I should know
The horribly murdered politician wrote the playbook of the right wing populism that Andy Burnham must now confront
Read the full article11 July 2026
From Don Corleone to Donald Trump: David Thomson puts the movies on trial
Our greatest film writer’s new book says that Hollywood has made us all complicit in populism’s rise and intellectualism’s fall
Read the full article07 July 2026
The Odyssey and our summer of myth
Homer’s epic speaks powerfully to any age troubled by anxiety that the notion of home, reciprocity and social stability is in jeopardy
Read the full article04 July 2026
Olivia Wilde’s The Invite is the year's best film so far
Billed as a sex comedy, it’s subtle, ambiguous and moving
Read the full article29 June 2026
Andy Burnham v London
The PM-in-waiting will shift power from the capital to the cities to help national cohesion and end the populist right’s grievance culture. It has to work
Read the full article27 June 2026
Larry David, the surprising standard-bearer for American hope
The Curb Your Enthusiasm star’s US history sketch series is pretty, pretty funny – and stacked with digs at Trump
Read the full article21 June 2026
Burnham must run fearlessly into the future – and this is how
The PM-in-waiting has 18 months, tops, to reset Britain and save it from Farage
Read the full article