Albums of the Year Streaming platforms want music that doesn’t demand anything of you: records designed to soundtrack scrolling, workouts and shopping baskets, optimised for playlists rather than people. In 2025, the most interesting albums were the ones that resisted that logic — music that asked for attention, patience and sometimes discomfort, and in doing … Read more
TV in 2025: Streaming, Distraction and the End of Attention For a century, the business of running a Hollywood studio was simple. The more people watched films, the more money studios made. Box office receipts were the signal. Attention equalled profit. Streaming broke that relationship. Netflix audiences don’t pay for individual films or shows. They … Read more
Books of the Year: Reading at the End of the World 2025 was a strong year for books, particularly for writers circling the same big questions from different angles: reality and unreality, social collapse, the exhaustion of modern life, and the return of authoritarian politics in new guises. What follows isn’t a neat or balanced … Read more
Living in the Lie There is a moment in the decay of a democracy when truth stops mattering — not because people can’t tell what is true, but because they no longer care. We have passed that point. A growing number of our fellow citizens do not merely believe false things; they want the rest … Read more
