Category : Culture

A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland review – a fantastic debut of forbidden desire

This spare, luminously pure novel charts a secret gay relationship in post-industrial Wales Set during the late 1980s, against prevailing Aids paranoia and the Tories’ Section 28 bill forbidding the promotion of homosexuality in education, Anthony Sh...

‘I was surprised how common it is’: the director of Sebastian on his controversial film about an author who enters sex work

In Sebastian, a writer sells his body to provide material for his debut novel, then doesn’t give the night job up. Mikko Mäkelä explains what inspired his film – and remembers his cinematic sexual awakeningGrowing up in a small Finnish town close to...

What Is Free Speech? by Fara Dabhoiwala review – a brilliant history of a weaponised mantra

This fascinating book questions whether such a misunderstood ideal should be lauded as an end in itselfThis book arrives at an interesting moment. Elon Musk has declared himself a “free speech absolutist”. JD Vance worries that free speech in Europe...

Chic, Missy and Bryan Ferry’s wallpaper: 75 years of Atlantic Records – in pictures

Founded by a $10,000 loan from a dentist, the label has had an extraordinary array of groundbreakers from Aretha Franklin to the Drifters, from Abba to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Continue reading...

TV tonight: Brianna Ghey’s mother bravely tells her daughter’s story

A devastating documentary about the teenager’s life, murder and legacy. Plus: the people trying to flee Putin’s kill list. Here’s what to watch this evening9pm, ITV1The last text Esther Ghey sent to her daughter, Brianna, said “how good it was” that...

‘CSI: Miró’: X-ray reveals Spanish artist painted out his mother – but why?

Decades of detective work have uncovered Joan Miró’s hidden act of rebellion: painting over his mother’s portrait. But why did the artist do it?Three clumps of raised paint, an old X-ray and months of scientific analysis and dogged detective work hav...

The White Lotus ‘goes too far’: Duke University unhappy over their prominence in show

Two characters in the troubled Ratliff family are Duke alumni, but the association has displeased the US universityThis article contains spoilers for the third season of The White LotusIn the aftermath of an incestuous threesome, many viewers of the...

Summer 2025 Bookings Available Now!

Summer 2025 bookings are available now, for a traditional British seaside holiday look no further than Hero's Holiday Homes.Situated on a small and peaceful private park located in the popular seaside resort of Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire Coast.S...