Top 20 of 2021
We hope you enjoy our selection of the essays and podcast episodes that most enriched our minds during another difficult year.
Culture
In a word: refugee
Extensive coverage of refugee arrivals in the UK has placed the word at the heart of our political discourse. But what are its origins?
The quiet subversiveness of A Christmas Carol
Dickens's short story electrified Victorian Britain. But it was a secularist tale, and its subversive qualities have been forgotten.
The art of the blag
Laurie Taylor's entry to Birkbeck University required the deployment of a key skill for getting by in life: the blag.
In the US, ‘civil religion’ ensures church and state remain tied at the hip
Americans who profess no religious affiliation make up a sizeable voting bloc. Yet despite this, faith continues to guide US policymaking.
Q&A: Eimear McBride
We spoke with the novelist and essayist Eimear McBride on the continuing objectification of women's bodies in western culture.
Abandonment issues
"The Lost Daughter", adapted from Elena Ferrante’s novel, brings her bold tale of motherhood and loss to the big screen.
A funny old island
The current government often frames "Britishness" as imperilled by outsiders. Our "unique" sense of humour, so it thinks, is under particular threat.
Predators in the Church
Revelations that Catholic clergymen in France abused 230,000 children over 70 years is irrefutable evidence of a deep rot within the Church
“Cave paintings of animals show a quest for knowledge, a sense of admiration and love”
We spoke with art historian John-Paul Stonard on the evolution of human image-making, from cave paintings to modern art.