1+ hour, 33+ min ago  (659+ words) The Spectator Australia What a rabbit hole this film takes you down Madfabulous is a biopic of Henry Paget, the fifth Marquess of Anglesey, who was probably mad and definitely fabulous. His prodigalities in jewels and clothing were enormous. He…...

1+ hour, 33+ min ago  (386+ words) The Spectator Australia A group of writers in north London find themselves under siege in the local caf" as race riots erupt in a divided neighbourhood Writing a state-of-the-nation novel that is also tense and funny is no mean feat,…...

1+ hour, 33+ min ago  (202+ words) A keeper's livelihood depends on his ability to prove consistent competence in these two skills. In contrast, government and charity employees suffer no personal consequences from the ongoing decline of the curlew. If their pay was tied to annual curlew…...

1+ hour, 33+ min ago  (349+ words) I had a notion the other day that there was possibly more I could offer to this fleeting world. A feeling that with life having been comparatively kind to me, perhaps there is something I could put back. I have…...

1+ hour, 32+ min ago  (380+ words) An abusive childhood distorted all his future relationships and scarred him " and many others " for life" So what is Mead"s concern? But of course there"s more to it than tarnish. There are the contradictions: Indeed, how many could…...

1+ hour, 32+ min ago  (571+ words) The Spectator Australia When the cuckoo is no longer heard and even the last badger shuffles off, the inhabitants of Lower Eodham, a village mentioned in Domesday, sense that change can no longer be resisted Melissa Harrison's bestselling 2018 novel All…...

1+ hour, 33+ min ago  (733+ words) The Spectator Australia A first-class production of Puccini's Western Opera Holland Park, until 12 June Garsington Opera, until 29 June Nature smiled on the opening week of Opera Holland Park's new season. There's no better advertisement for semi-outdoor opera than an unseasonal…...

1+ hour, 32+ min ago  (503+ words) The Spectator Australia Two lonely residents of east London, well-matched in their attachment to idle dreams, make an awkward stab at a relationship Two people make an awkward stab at a relationship, even as both flounder under the realities of…...

1+ hour, 32+ min ago  (567+ words) The Spectator Australia The humiliating truth about the way we think We overrate our capacity for rational deliberation, says Turi Munthe, when weather, soil, climate and geography are what really determine of our opinions and beliefs Hutchinson Heinemann, pp. 355, 22 Over…...

2+ hour, 35+ min ago  (816+ words) The Spectator Australia Why don't you agree with William Dalrymple? "In Xanadu records the impressions, prejudices and enthusiasms of a very young, naive and deeply Anglocentric undergraduate,' William Dalrymple confesses in the Folio Society's 25-year anniversary edition of his 1989 debut....