Culture

In a country forecourt

Paul Barker on the new architectural landmarks: petrol stations

Graceful cynicism

Peter Kerr-Jarrett on the poetry of Catullus

Dad-lit in Decline

by Chris Paling

A dark heritage of fiction

by Sally Feldman

Reader’s digest

Laurie Taylor has an appetite for the incomprehensible

Gilt Money

Paul Barker watches St Petersburg go backwards

The Art of Evil

Leni Riefenstahl’s career illustrated the power of the big lie, says Brian Winston; none more so than the one she endlessly retold about herself

Defying the Gods

Salman Rushide's latest short stories reviewed by Bonnie Greer

Christian cruelty

Victor Lewis–Smith demands the right to die painlessly

Easy does it

A slow tale reviewed by Alan Brownjohn