The Critic Magazine

As Christmas approaches, Jeremy Black reviews the best in detective fiction Source

Margaret Thatcher did not lost Britain a trillion pounds Source

For people to have more children, they have to be excited about having children Source

We should follow the Dutch in allowing AI to improve the efficiency of the civil service Source

John Healey has ignored the structural economic issues that are undermining Britain Source

In Ukraine, children are still trying to live normal lives amid the war Source

The economically illiterate commentator cannot see the world as it is Source

Nscale’s collapsed Loughton data centre shows what happens when regulators replace prices with bureaucracy Source

Elite managerialists are acknowledging inconvenient facts — can they accept their implications?

A grim and futile conflict still has much to teach us Source

100 hours every week just to keep up one wall of a fragmenting string quartet Source

The Mediterranean is at the centre of a new maritime struggle Source

John Healey’s first Budget bored the Commons into submission Source

This is not a government that is serious about taking necessary action Source

The energy of the election is hardening into cold and grim political realities Source

Direct-to-consumer marketing is widening the boundaries of autism and ADHD, and the NHS is picking up the bill Source

Early release is a threat to the justice system, and the police are not happy about it Source

Jokes can be wrong, but how wrong can they be?

Martin Guerre, The Old Vic Source

Manchester City have now been found guilty on a scale previously unknown in football or any other sport Source

Barack Obama’s election in 2008 marked the beginning of a shift in relations between America and its formidable ally in the Middle East Source

Politicians like Stephen Morgan can explain everything, justify everything, and admit to nothing Source

Tom Jones and Henry Hill talk to Rob Hutton about the state of the party political conference Source

Trump’s inconsistency hampers his Ukraine-Russia peace efforts Source

There is no need to imagine that sane political goals must entail violence Source

Reform is facing challenges, certainly, but what young party doesn’t?

A report from Israel, where voters face a choice between Netanyahu and everyone else Source

Rupert Lowe’s party is polling at eight per cent and may be hurting the Conservatives as much as Reform Source

It is unhealthy to treat social media stars as if they were something like friends or family members Source

The state is handing out billions of taxpayers’ cash to charities challenging political policy — without effective democratic oversight Source

Some claim Labour is revitalised, and that it is time to go to the polls Source

Competition over mapping has serious geopolitical implications Source

Commentators are underestimating the Prime Minister’s brittleness Source

Privileged women end up being disadvantaged too Source

Project Spire is legally, historically and morally dubious, says a Winchester clergyman bringing a legal challenge against it Source

It is easier to imagine the end of the world than an upturn in British economic fortunes Source

By picking on grandparents, Ireland’s rape crisis sector avoids the hard questions about sexual violence Source

Both the Conservatives and Reform are making the selection process much more difficult Source

The contrast with previous generations of refugees to Britain suggests something has gone badly wrong with the admission system Source

A familiar theatrical convention might be failing plays and critics alike Source

If Reform UK was to defeat Scottish nationalism it would have to pursue major economic change Source

Britain is not a neoliberal wasteland but a nanny state, and Andy Burnham’s love of beer and chips hints at his inner Randian Source

Michael Tippett: Unaccompanied choruses (Signum Classics) Source

We must be bold enough to expand essential infrastructure and restore a rare modern source of British pride Source

The sacrifices Britain Sir Roly Walker suggests are modest compared with what we could lose Source

We are witnessing not just the evolution of the war but the evolution of warfare in general Source

The centre cannot hold but it is still doing its morbid best to cling onto power Source

Labour has accepted the case for domestic gas, and must now follow the logic through Source

The government needs to recognise the scale of discontent with the NHS Source