Matthew d’Ancona
27 May 2026
Could post-Trump Brit Steve Hilton win California?
Less rage, more delivery is the former David Cameron adviser’s message in the race to become the state’s next governor
Read the full article23 May 2026
This sublime, audacious Whistler exhibition is an absolute must-see
Tate Britain’s retrospective shows the significance of a dazzling radical
Read the full article19 May 2026
‘Ungovernable Britain?’ Don’t be absurd
The UK has deep-seated problems its political leaders refuse to confront. But that doesn’t make it a dystopian wasteland beyond the powers of reasonable statecraft
Read the full article16 May 2026
Gary Oldman’s Beckett masterclass
The Slow Horses star follows Gambon and Hurt in Krapp’s Last Tape – and outshines them both
Read the full article13 May 2026
How to beat Farage
Reform haven’t peaked – and their march to No 10 can only be stopped if we face up to why they're winning
Read the full article09 May 2026
Kokuho, the dazzling, savage Japanese epic you must not miss
Lee Sang-il’s remarkable film charts the cost of being a national treasure
Read the full article06 May 2026
The case for a British post-populist right
Péter Magyar managed it in Hungary. Can his counterpart be found here to avoid the catastrophe of Nigel Farage?
Read the full article02 May 2026
Widow’s Bay, the best horror-comedy since An American Werewolf in London
Matthew Rhys shows off his comic chops in a show that references It, Hallowe’en and The Shining
Read the full article29 April 2026
UFOs over the White House
Already rooted in conspiracy theory, the Trump presidency is now obsessing over aliens – another sign of US political culture gone insane
Read the full article25 April 2026
Richard Gadd’s Half Man is brutal, thrilling and unforgettable
Two years after Baby Reindeer, the actor and writer has surpassed himself
Read the full article22 April 2026
Is Donald Trump the antichrist?
The president has so offended US evangelicals that the previously loyal are calling him demon-possessed and the Biblical ‘father of lies’
Read the full article18 April 2026
Criminal Record has the makings of a classic
The cop drama is compelling, fiercely contemporary and underpinned by mighty performances by Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi
Read the full article14 April 2026
How to stop the next Trump
The president’s apocalyptic threats should spur major constitutional change
Read the full article11 April 2026
What everyone gets wrong about The Stranger
After years of misinterpretation, François Ozon’s blank and beautiful movie truly understands the Camus classic
Read the full article04 April 2026
Welcome back to Gilead: The Testaments is a triumph
Violence and cruelty lurk at the lavishly appointed finishing school for daughters of the patriarchal regime
Read the full article01 April 2026
How MAGA ate itself
Iran, Israel and insults have torn Trump’s alt right army apart
Read the full article28 March 2026
The Pitt: One hospital, one hour, one hell of a show
Noah Wyle is exceptional in the best medical drama for years
Read the full article23 March 2026
To Trump, Iran isn’t war – it’s showbiz
More than 1,300 dead, up to 3.2m Iranians displaced, shockwaves through the world economy - and the president is having the time of his life
Read the full article21 March 2026
The chaotic magic of Rebecca Lucy Taylor
The singer also known as Self Esteem is phenomenal as she follows revival in a revival of David Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles
Read the full article17 March 2026
How Europe can win the war after the war
Reshaping our place in the post-Trump, post-Brexit, post-Iran world is about strength, not virtue
Read the full article14 March 2026
A Pale View of Hills is an exquisite ghost story with a twist
A haunting literary adaptation is laced with grief and guilt
Read the full article09 March 2026
Trump’s Iran war is a family business
The president’s attack on Iran is about building an American dynasty – and stuffing his family’s coffers yet further
Read the full article07 March 2026
Matthew d’Ancona’s culture: Tommy Shelby returns to wage a holy war
Cillian Murphy rides again in an Arthurian finale to the Peaky Blinders saga
Read the full article04 March 2026
What Ken Burns’s new documentary tells us about America
Ken Burns, the great documentary-maker, returns with a masterful study of the American revolution. The resonances for the present day are hard to miss
Read the full article28 February 2026
The enduring influence of Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin: A Second Life establishes beyond doubt her significance in British artistic history
Read the full article23 February 2026
A scandal that leads everywhere and infects everything
The Epstein revelations have provoked fury around the world. That anger could spell the end of the ‘Epstein class’. But it could also have much darker consequences
Read the full article21 February 2026
The Secret Agent's carnival of death
Wagner Moura is magnificent in a Brazilian thriller that’s a stone-cold masterpiece
Read the full article14 February 2026
“Wuthering Heights” is a camp triumph
Emerald Fennell’s third film is far from a well-behaved literary adaptation, but it's thoroughly enjoyable
Read the full article11 February 2026
The God delusions of Jeffrey Epstein’s secret brotherhood
The paedophile fixer’s depraved, narcissistic, super-rich circle have come to believe that they are beyond mortality and morals
Read the full article07 February 2026
Kristen Stewart’s brilliant directorial debut is a sophisticated gut-punch
The Chronology of Water is gruelling and honest – and Imogen Poots has never been better
Read the full article04 February 2026
Tucker Carlson, podcaster president?
The enormous span of the right wing pundit’s ambition is becoming increasingly clear
Read the full article31 January 2026
The enchanting power of Richard Linklater
Once again, the director’s Nouvelle Vague is a love letter to a cultural milieu and an enchantment in its own right
Read the full article