Liverpool
Before the Blitz: the dynamism of British architecture
Many competing styles flourished in the interwar years, including functionalism, art deco, neoclassicism, seaside moderne, mock-Mayan and Egyptian revivalism
How Liverpool soon outgrew the Beatles
For the bands playing at Eric’s, the celebrated Merseyside punk club of the late 1970s, even to own a Beatles record was considered embarrassing
Shades of Tony Soprano: BBC1's The Responder reviewed
Older readers may remember a time when people signalled their cultural superiority with the weird boast that they didn’t watch…
Why aren't we more horrified by the Liverpool bombing?
Back when the West was still pretending to fight the ‘war on terror’, Martin Amis made an observation about the…
Liverpool explosion: what we know so far
Britain has been subjected to another suspected terror attack, just as the nation fell silent for the annual Remembrance Sunday…
A tale of bitter brotherly rivalry
For early humans there was no distinction between spirit and matter. There was no idea of self; no barrier between…
Why Stonehenge doesn’t have to go the same way as Liverpool
It has not been a good month for the United Kingdom’s internationally important heritage sites. Stonehenge is teetering on the…
The disgraceful decision to remove Liverpool’s heritage status
Unesco has cancelled the ‘World Heritage Status’ of the Necropolis at Memphis and the Giza Pyramid because a Radisson Blu…
How strict will the new Covid restrictions be?
I have a few points to make about the new three tier system to be announced today for restricting our…
Portrait of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic – Britain's oldest and ballsiest orchestra
Richard Bratby on Britain’s oldest and ballsiest orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, which has taken on everyone from gang leaders to Derek Hatton
Klopp’s childlike enthusiasm – and incalculable savviness
Where were we? Oh yes, Liverpool were running away with the Premier League and a mere three months later have…
If Annette Bening isn’t Oscar-nominated, I’ll eat my hat and also yours
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is plainly wonderful, and stars Annette Bening, who is plainly wonderful, as Gloria Grahame,…
Peter Hitchens: Why I climbed on my soapbox after refusing to sign a university’s ‘free speech’ contract
Where better to be than in Liverpool on a crisp autumn evening, haranguing an open-air meeting of students? I hadn’t…
Diary
It has been an unqualified delight, even if it is mildly absurd: I have been chairing the judges for this…
Prue Leith: British hotels still serve filthy food
Why do we assume all doctors are good? We don’t think there are no bad cooks or bad plumbers. But…
Manchester isn’t oppressed, Andy Burnham – it’s wildly overrated
Manchester isn’t downtrodden, whatever Andy Burnham says. Quite the opposite, in fact
The Heckler: love your music, Macca, just not sure about you
It’s slightly galling, after years of sticking up for Paul McCartney, to read a new biography of the bloke and…
Twee, treacly and tearful: Pre-Raphaelites at the Walker Art Gallery reviewed
Dear, good, kind, sacrificing Little Nell. Here she is kneeling by a wayside pond, bonnet pushed back, shoes and stockings…
Homage to the Poet Laureate
These Collected Poems, published halfway through Carol Ann Duffy’s time as poet laureate, make clear that she is a true…
The moral case for gentrification
To gentrify or not to gentrify. That is the question, says Stephen Bayley
George Osborne interview: smaller government is not enough
George Osborne on his love affair with Greater Manchester, and his party’s need for ‘a bit of the Heseltine’
Five of the best celebrity biographies of 2014
Cilla Black has become a strange creature during her 50 years in showbiz. When her husband Bobby was in hospital…
Matthew Parris: the barbarism of the Twitter mob
Are we heading for a new barbarism? Is this the return of the 18th-century mob? Here are more questions than…
A Labour MP defends the Empire – and only quotes Lenin twice
In a grand history of the British empire — because that is what this book really is — you might…
