On ASMR and the intimacy deficit
ASMR is booming on YouTube. More than just a weird subculture, it is meeting a real need for care and attention.
Culture
Book review: Justice on Trial
One of the UK’s top criminal barristers argues that we should rebuild our criminal justice system from scratch.
Book review: Reaganland
In "Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980", Rick Perlstein continues to chronicle American conservatism, shedding light on the Republican party today.
Book review: Doing Philosophy
If philosophy isn't a science, then what is it? Timothy Williamson's new book confronts opposing ideas about the discipline and its place in the world.
Do traditional kings have a role to play in Africa?
Traditional African monarchs are lobbying for more recognition. What role, if any, do old kingdoms have in a modern continent?
What can we learn from ancient cynicism?
Cynicism was a transgressive tradition. The life of Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky shows us what a modern revival might look like.
Cracking cases
Impossible crimes are a staple of detective fiction. What’s behind their appeal?
Book review: Caste
In her much-debated bestseller, Isabel Wilkerson argues that racism is an insufficient term for the systemic oppression of black people in America.
In a word: quarantine
Michael Rosen's column on language and its uses.
Looking back in anger at ‘Cool Britannia’ w/ Jason Arday
Sociologist Jason Arday recalls his South London teenagehood during the Blair years in a wide-ranging discussion on music and identity, racism and resistance.