Old Faithful (& other 1970s sex aids)

ALWYN TURNER shares some letters from Forum magazine in 1970. Expect honey, steak and vacuum cleaners. Continue reading →

George Orwell and the Whirligig of Fame

ALWYN TURNER reviews books on Orwell by Dorian Lynskey and John Rodden – one of them good, the other very, very bad. Continue reading →

Fun and games with Robert Maxwell

Robert Maxwell left a dark legacy, but PAUL SAFFER remembers a lighter moment from his assault on public life. Continue reading →

Looking for a New England

From The Stud to Absolute Beginners, Simon Matthews’s new book rounds up music movies of the 1970s and ’80s. ALWYN TURNER has a read. Continue reading →

‘It was everything I feared’

From Morrissey and Bowie to Major and Blair, the Union Jack was everywhere in the 1990s, as ALWYN TURNER remembers. Continue reading →

Rear-view review: The Tumbled House

DAN ATKINSON finds sex, plagiarism and libel in a 1959 novel by Winston Graham. Continue reading →

Will you still love me tomorrow?

ALWYN W TURNER explores the fear and loathing in Britain’s response to AIDS. Continue reading →

Rear-view review: Charlie

Nigel Williams’s 1984 thriller involving trade unions, nationalised car manufacturers, far left politics – it’s a classic of its era, concludes DAN ATKINSON. Continue reading →

This is not America

In foreign affairs there’s only one question that matters: Are you on the right side of history? Continue reading →

2020 Politician of the Year (dead)

Boris Johnson has chosen the wrong lodestar. He should look to an earlier wartime premier. Continue reading →

2020 Politician of the Year (decomposing)

The return of our award for the politician throwing it all away. Continue reading →

Imperial fiction: Goodbye, Mr Chips

The best of all school stories? ALWYN TURNER thinks it might be. Continue reading →