Highlights
Art
Nigerian art against the empire
A brilliant Nigerian Modernism exhibition shows the defiant beauty born from oppression
When looters arrived in Sudan’s National Museum
What they couldn’t take they tried the destroy, using statues for target practice – they even shot all the mummies
Gerhard Richter, the man who won’t conform
The German artist’s epic Paris retrospective reveals an artist who can’t be pigeonholed
In defence of museum selfies
They cause groans and snobbishness – but in Paris, the impulse to photograph oneself by Monet’s Water Lilies becomes a gesture of devotion
Step inside Wes Anderson’s world
Not all cinema has to be art. But this exhibition at the Design Museum proves Wes Anderson’s most certainly is
Making a date with gods and monsters
A giant sculpture made from syrup tins gives Greece a new ally in the battle for the Parthenon marbles
Books
Margaret Atwood settles the score
At 86, the author has finally written a memoir, and it’s everything you’d want it to be
Dianarama, the book that exposes the madness of the House of Windsor
An account of the BBC Bashir scandal shows it could only have happened to a family mired in paranoid plotting
Backing books over screens might be Reeves’s best budget move
The chancellor recognises the power of getting children to read – now she must convince the parents
Naomi Alderman: ‘The right side is not largely defined by your opinions’
Being right or wrong is not as important as what you do in the service of those opinions and how far you are willing to go
The book from 1939 that reads like breaking news
Leonard Woolf’s The Barbarians At The Gate warns that tyranny begins not with tanks in the streets, but with compassion being turned off in the public mind
Cory Doctorow, the gatecrasher at the AI party
The writer coined the word ‘enshittification’ to describe how useful tech inevitably gets worse. Now he’s turning his sights on AI
Music
Shane MacGowan, the poet laureate of chaos and loss
The Irishman had a rare ability to write about mood and place, to capture the rawness of what it is to be alive
Will the Beatles industry ever let it be?
I love the band. But this incessant anthologising, dismantling and rebuilding is straining things
Joan Armatrading shows the right are wrong about Birmingham
She won’t talk politics, but her career speaks volumes – and it shows her city is a multicultural success
Gogol Bordello bring anarchy to Strasbourg
Eugene Hütz and his band turn the Council of Europe into a carnival of defiance
Why Japan fell in love with jazz
The country’s love of detail and discipline finds its purest expression in Tokyo’s tiny clubs and vinyl cafes
What Pussy Riot did next
Thirteen years after the ‘punk prayer’ that saw her jailed, Maria Alyokhina’s new book details how the art collective continues the fight against Putin
Film
It’s time to get out of your cultural silo
I’ll go out of my way to watch stuff I’m sure won’t be my thing, just because finding common ground is pleasant – even if it’s friendly disagreement
Leatherface and me: the Chainsaw that won’t stop
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the most terrifying film ever made. So why did I watch it when I was 11, and why does it still have a hold on me?
Train Dreams is the year’s most beautiful film
Joel Edgerton’s career-best performance underpins a modern classic that owes s substantial debt to Terrence Malick
Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is simply exquisite
Linklater’s film takes on thwarted love and the pain of looming obsolescence. It was easily my favourite from this year’s London Film Festival
Will HAL kill Hollywood?
After years of scary AI movies, the tech is now portrayed as heroic – just as the industry’s humans come into its sights
Why do people hate Sydney Sweeney?
The White Lotus actress is a registered Republican, but that isn’t a reason to troll her – our idea of liberal Hollywood is a myth
Theatre
David Copperfield is London’s best Christmas show of the year
Eddy Payne is reminiscent of Ralph Richardson in a night full of fun and charm
Bryan Cranston is superbly seditious in All My Sons
Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Paapa Essiedu make for magnificent theatre – just ignore the tree
This Othello is a tour de force
At the heart of Tom Morris’s brilliant production is Toby Jones’s astonishing performance of Iago. It is, by far, the best I’ve ever seen
The Line of Beauty is dazzling and devastating
There’s more humanity in this standout play about Thatcher’s Britain than in the decade itself
Mary Page Marlowe is a boring waste of Susan Sarandon
Despite the star power, it’s hard to feel engaged or uplifted by a self-indulgent snooze
Remember this name: Hiran Abeysekera is going to be a star
This Hamlet is an unignorable feat of acting genius
Great Lives
Sócrates, the beautiful game’s great romantic
He never lifted the World Cup, but his intelligence and fight for democracy made him one of the nation’s most beloved footballing icons
Shane MacGowan, the poet laureate of chaos and loss
The Irishman had a rare ability to write about mood and place, to capture the rawness of what it is to be alive
Christophe Dominici, the titan on the rugby field
A pacy and ferocious player, disappointments weren’t uncommon throughout the Frenchman’s life. Nor was depression
Doris Lessing, the writer who filled her own world with stories just to survive
Lessing wrote not about poverty, but literary poverty – what happens when eager minds are deprived of books
Leonard Cohen, the poet laureate of gloom
His fans love his humour, his cheerful self-deprecation, his gritty gentleness, his ability to make sense of the brittleness of the world
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the football club owner who made dreams come true
The Thai duty-free magnate bought Leicester City and brought it the most unlikely title in English football history