Why City’s ‘victory’ against the Premier League leaves me cold
‘The Premier League has the champions it deserves’, read the message from an old pal in May, after Manchester City’s…
Has Bazball rescued — or ruined — cricket?
Thanks to Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, English Test cricket has been revolutionised – at the expense of the gentle, contemplative game
In praise of burning pianos
How are non-conformists assimilated within the cloistered walls of tradition? Richard Wagner supplied the best answer to the age-old question…
The hateful Hundred is putting cash before cricket
This slick new tournament will ruin cricket
Twilight in the bayou: The New Iberia Blues, by James Lee Burke, reviewed
The king of crime fiction doesn’t need a crown and sceptre. Every page proclaims his majesty. James Lee Burke has…
The Hundred will kill cricket – in all forms
‘There can be no summer in this land without cricket’, wrote Neville Cardus, whose rhapsodic vision of the game lies…
A champion actor and fully paid-up member of the human race: Roger Allam interviewed
A most excellent fellow, Roger Allam. On the stage he brings dignity to all he does, in the noblest traditions…
Manchester isn’t oppressed, Andy Burnham – it’s wildly overrated
Manchester isn’t downtrodden, whatever Andy Burnham says. Quite the opposite, in fact
Anarchy in the EU: the Sex Pistols’ drummer on why Brexit isn’t punk
Paul Cook, the Sex Pistols’ drummer, on fame, notoriety and why Brexit wouldn’t be punk
In most state schools, cricket is a dead ball game
The England team may be riding high, but state schools have all but abandoned cricket
My Schubert cruise was a transport of delight
Michael Henderson is transported to raptures on a Schubert cruise
Alastair Cook is world class. Steven Gerrard isn’t
This time last year, England’s cricketers were 2-0 up against Australia, two thirds of the way towards their third consecutive…
The glorious bohemia of Prague
Prague, ‘Golden Prague’, is rich in music, architecture, glassware, pilsner and natural beauty. It is one of those places where…
Why Ken Loach hasn’t made a decent film since Kes
He hasn’t made anything worth watching since Kes
Robin Ticciati interview: ‘Glyndebourne is a festival where the established and the fresh exist together’
Michael Henderson talks to Glyndebourne’s fresh-faced new music director, Robin Ticciati
Notes on... Venice
For Henry James it was ‘the repository of consolations’. Wordsworth, an earlier visitor, called it ‘the eldest child of liberty’.…
What now for ENO?
Michael Henderson wonders what direction English National Opera will now take
And the prize for most fatuous awards ceremony goes to...
Awards ceremonies grow ever sillier and more self-important
Goodbye, Claudio Abbado. You helped us glimpse eternity
Fellini’s credo ‘the visionary is the only true realist’ could also be applied to the life of Claudio Abbado, who…
Music in Vienna
There is no finer city in which to hear music than Vienna. Or, to put it more felicitously, there is…
The splendour of the English carol
Michael Henderson on the splendour of carols
Don't flog a dead parrot - leave Monty Python in the past
Monty Python was funny once. But a revival is a dreadful idea
Berlin: The best bar in the world
‘You were at the Fish, I hear,’ a Berlin friend told me. ‘I didn’t know you were an old hippie.’…
'I was an arrogant 18-year-old': Daniel Harding on growing up
Michael Henderson talks to the youthful conductor Daniel Harding, who realises that the older he gets the more he has to learn
The Morrissey myth
The sad end of the Morrissey myth
