Ros Taylor
07 October 2026
Gordon Brown’s got a big idea – and it’s painfully dull
The former PM’s new book might have a point about cooperation, but it’s both turgid and naive
Read the full article30 September 2026
The dirty secrets of Britain’s 1960s
David Kynaston’s new book shows how the Beatles, Carnaby Street and Geoff Hurst obscured years of decline, racism and repression
Read the full article22 September 2026
Sky’s The Wargame might be prescient – but it’s also propaganda
Michael Gove finally gets to be PM in a reality show about a Russian attack on the UK that feels like a campaign for public support for defence spending
Read the full article21 September 2026
The strangely comforting Britain of Strictly Come Dancing
National anxiety and polarisation seem to be growing, but the show continues to offer a wholesome vision of unity and happiness
Read the full article11 September 2026
The strange rise of ‘Suicidal Empathy’
The latest far right theory turns compassion into weakness and cruelty into common sense
Read the full article11 September 2026
Apocalypse wow: The American right wingers rooting for doomsday
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor's End Times Fascism explores the religious fanatics and tech billionaires who see catastrophe as an opportunity
Read the full article10 August 2026
Ricky Gervais’s Alley Cats is even worse than you thought
The Netflix cartoon is profoundly reactionary, bombastic and mawkish
Read the full article05 August 2026
Tobias Ellwood’s book on defence is a total misfire
The former minister’s editors have done him no favours, and his lightweight summaries of wars would leave a GCSE history examiner unimpressed
Read the full article29 July 2026
Why did Britain forget how to build railways?
We used to love high-speed trains – before cowardice and waste took over
Read the full article17 July 2026
The trouble with Diane Morgan’s Ann Droid
The sitcom about a robot carer is a strange and melancholy affair
Read the full article16 July 2026
Mr Farage, what first attracted you to multi-millionaire fraudster Posh George?
The Reform leader’s right hand money man, who did time in the US for fraud, is surrounded by a series of deeply troubling unanswered questions
Read the full article02 July 2026
What happens if America shuts off your AI?
Trump banned non-Americans from using Anthropic’s most powerful model. That decision has now been reversed, but it sets a dangerous precedent
Read the full article26 June 2026
Jeremy Hunt’s glib new book dodges the big questions
The former chancellor’s Can We Be Rich Again? offers a dated prescription that breezes past immigration in the blink of an eye
Read the full article24 June 2026
Forget about privacy – unless you’re a billionaire
Everywhere you go, in the real world and online, you are under constant surveillance from the government or one of the tech giants. Unless, that is, you happen to be a billionaire
Read the full article08 June 2026
The shocking lesson of the BBC’s Brexit: A Very British Civil War
They lied and lied, we were complacent - and the culture war began in earnest
Read the full article03 June 2026
This pro-populism book unwittingly exposes the emptiness at its heart
Frank Furedi’s wearying In Defence of Populism reveals it offers no coherent and workable policy agenda and relies on authoritarian ‘solutions’
Read the full article01 June 2026
The Four Seasons is a very funny taste of the America we miss
Season two’s gentle satire and mid-life angst is catnip for Gen Xers
Read the full article27 May 2026
Ladies First is a waste of top-tier British talent, with a nasty undercurrent of misogyny
Rosamund Pike, Fiona Shaw and Sacha Baron Cohen can't save this trite and dodgy role-reversal comedy drama
Read the full article21 May 2026
Should robots decide whether or not you get a job?
Companies are using AI systems for recruitment, arguing that it’s a way of removing bias from the system. But it brings with it a whole load of other problems, some of them just as bad
Read the full article13 May 2026
What Believe Me gets horribly right about the John Worboys fiasco
The ITV drama about a rapist cabbie paints a shocking picture of police misogyny
Read the full article06 May 2026
What would happen if Farage got into No 10? It’s even worse than you think
A new book predicts migrant riots, Brexit wars and a dismantled BBC - and none of it feels outlandish
Read the full article29 April 2026
Secret Service is today’s spy thriller wrapped in yesterday’s politics
Gemma Arterton’s character lacks heft - and the glossy ITV series lacks plausibility
Read the full article24 April 2026
Nigel Farage’s Trump problem
He was once a slavish devotee of the US president. But now Trump’s war on Iran has descended into catastrophic farce, the Reform leader is trying to distance himself from the demented man in the White House. That won’t be so easy
Read the full article21 April 2026
Why is Queen Elizabeth II still beyond criticism?
The BBC’s documentary to mark what would have been her 100th birthday was always going to be respectful – but it feels too reverent
Read the full article15 April 2026
Francis Spufford’s blitz of sex, bombs and angels
Nonesuch brings magical realism to wartime London to dazzling and profound effect
Read the full article18 March 2026
Claudia Winkleman’s chat show is afraid of Claudia Winkleman
The BBC has finally given a woman a major chat show. But they won’t let the host be herself
Read the full article11 March 2026
The moral sewer of Louis Theroux’s Manosphere
His new documentary series profiles delusional misogynists. Will the women in their lives ever push back against them?
Read the full article06 March 2026
Why New Labour was the last good government
Tarnished by Iraq and Mandelson – but two new books show they made millions of lives better
Read the full article05 March 2026
Outraged and outplayed: how we lost the Brexit wars
Morgan Jones’s new book unpicks the chaos of the campaign for a second referendum
Read the full article25 February 2026
Secrets, shame and sextortion
It’s a horrific digital age crime that often targets the young and is almost impossible to stop. The only real option is to disrupt the perpetrators’ business model
Read the full article20 February 2026
The Book Club fails to read the room
Dominic Sandbrook’s new literary podcast struggles with forced chemistry
Read the full article12 February 2026
The lesson of the new Lord of the Flies: Don’t leave the boys alone
Jack Thorne has followed Adolescence with another triumphant and troubling piece of work
Read the full article