Culture

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

Art as protest on university campuses

CW: rape. This week, Cornell University has made headlines as prosecutors reopened an investigation into...

Good grief! Why do we feel for the death of fictional people?

Whether it’s a mild sniffle or full-blown tears, I always end up feeling a bit ridiculous about the whole ordeal when it’s over. I mean, it’s not real, is it? Why do I waste my grief on things that haven’t happened, that will never happen?

Wolf Alice: From Carter’s cover to album cover

Sara Semic chats to Theo Ellis from Wolf Alice about touring with Alt-J and making their debut album

Review: Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late

Giles Norris sees Drake's latest surprise project as more of a transitional piece, sealing the star's escape from his label

Review: Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear

Aidan Clark is impressed by the lyricism of the Fleet Foxes' John Tillman and his expansive chamber pop sound

Review: Peace – Happy People

Peace's latest endeavour receives lukewarm reception from Ben Wilkinson-Turnbull

Interview: Paul Mayhew-Archer

Tom Barrie talks to the Vicar of Dibley co-creator about sexism in the TV industry, Richard Curtis and self-immolation

Voices from the Past: Alfred Lord Tennyson

Listen to the only surviving recording of the Victorian master and Poet Laureate

Preview: Constellations – a rehearsed reading

Fergus Morgan previews this reading of Nick Payne's idiosyncratic love story

Super Fatigue! The homogenisation of superhero movies

Joseph O'Neil wonders how much longer studios can milk the cash cow that the superhero genre has become

Broadchurch: against a sea of troubles

Tom Barrie reflects on the second wave of drama to hit Broadchurch

Review – Kingsman: The Secret Service

Mark Barclay struggles to decipher Kingsman: The Secret Service

Where are they now: Sam Bailey

Cherwell delves into the later careers of one-hit-wonders so you don’t have to

Review: Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night

Will Ferris is not wholly impressed by ageing Dylan's take on Frank Sinatra classics

Gerard’s Way of getting things done

Sam Joyce talks comics and new solo LPs with My Chemical Romance's frontman

Review: The Charlatans – Modern Nature

Aidan Clark finds the latest offering from the revered indie-rock band a hopeful channel after the bereavement of drummer Jon Brookes

Review: Nina Kraviz – DJ-Kicks

Freddy Rendall reviews the latest mix from the Siberian DJ making waves with her hypnotic techno

Milestones: Apocalypse Now

Ollie Johnson looks at nature's role in the making of Apocalypse Now

"Oh Charles, what a lot you have to learn!"

Fergus Morgan talks to the acting director of the Oxford Botanic Garden

Review: Blake-inspired LiveFriday at the Ashmolean

Mark Barclay reflects upon his interactive night at the museum

Loading the Canon: W. G. Sebald

Jacob Verter calls for the addition of W. G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn to the literary establishment

Alice Oswald: the modern epic poet to rival Homer

Rose Sykes reflects on the influences and work of the next speaker in Keble’s Meet the Poet series

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