Class
A hit – but please don’t pretend it’s feminist: Disney+’s Rivals reviewed
For most of my adult life, clever, well-read, feminist women have told me how much they love Jilly Cooper. It…
Rather in the lurch: Small Bomb at Dimperley, by Lissa Evans, reviewed
In 1945, a dilapidated Tudor manor risks being demolished – unless an impoverished evacuee with a gift for organisation can galvanise its despairing owner
Does it matter how posh pop stars are?
‘A working class hero is something to be.’ Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer must have missed the conflicted, sardonic edge…
Was there ever a time of equality in human society?
Living in open savannahs, men and women had no choice but to cooperate. But evolution caused men to fight and dominate, resulting in sexism and social hierarchy
Why do people assume I am posh?
If we cram any more doctors into our spare rooms we can put a sign outside advertising NHS accommodation. We…
It’s taken me days to uncringe: All My Friends Hate Me reviewed
All My Friends Hate Me is a film about a university reunion weekend and should you have an upcoming university…
The joy of being cancelled
New York I’ve never met anyone called Othello, certainly not in Venice nor in Cyprus, but perhaps there are men…
A gem that should be released online: Park Theatre’s Abigail’s Party reviewed
Mike Leigh’s classic, Abigail’s Party, has been revived under the direction of Vivienne Garnett. The script is a guilty secret…
Forget race or class, marriage is the big social divide
The latest spark to ignite the culture wars is a report from the parliamentary education committee on the underachievement of…
The secret code of the ruling class
I naively hoped that last year’s statement by the Equalities Minister explaining why unconscious bias training was being phased out…
Is my phobia of upmarket restaurants misplaced?
Scotching my bright idea of a stiff gin for Dutch courage in the bar across the road, Catriona bounded straight…
The neoliberal counter-revolution
America is not in the middle of a revolution — it is a reactionary putsch. About four years ago, the…
How the French view their weekly clap for carers
Once a week we break French emergency law and have a friend round for drinks on the terrace. The terrace…
The film that shaped my vision of the world
Joyce Marriott of Pyrton, Oxford, has written a letter to the Times on the subject of how a person’s imagination…
Fabulous and enthralling: Parasite reviewed
Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite won the Bafta for best foreign film and is up for six Oscars and it is an…
A badly missed opportunity: How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain reviewed
BBC2’s How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain (Tuesday) began rather promisingly. ‘I’m a working-class comedian who voted Leave,’ announced presenter…
From the NHS to Bayreuth: Norman Lebrecht talks to midwife-turned-opera singer Catherine Foster
Every summer for the past six years, Bayreuth has risen to its feet to acclaim an English Brünnhilde. Catherine Foster,…
The end is nigh: the rise of middle-class apocalypticism
There’s a lot of anger about — and it’s not pleasant. But at least it means people are engaged as…
Why New York loves John Bercow
‘The British political class has offered to the world an astounding spectacle of mendacious, intellectually limited hustlers.’ This is a…
Gary Kemp on pop, Pre-Raphaelites, politics and playing Pinter
The first thing Gary Kemp bought when Spandau Ballet started making money was a chair. He’s very proud of that…
Real life
Stefano and his boys got to work with gusto and within a few days the upstairs of my house started…
The London prep school circuit is a horrible racket
Prep schools are a soul-sapping waste of money
You can’t force low-income people to go to an art gallery or the theatre if they don’t want to
I went last week to see the justly praised production of Wagner’s The Mastersingers at English National Opera, and I…
A paean to the British passion for our very own ‘castles’
‘Phlogiston’ is an interesting, if obsolete, word. Of Greek origin, it referred to the ‘fire-making’ quality thought to be present…
