TV
Back to the Feelgood Sitcom
The comedy of self-recognition invites us to laugh gently at ourselves, rather than despise others
Goodbye Basil
Fawlty Towers is too politically incorrect and too well written to be shown today
Leaving God Out of It
The Devil’s Whore fails to acknowledge the role of religious passions in the Civil War
Dickens of a Debacle
Little Dorrit‘s uncanny similarities to today’s financial crisis makes it more suitable for adaptation than much of modern literature
They Just Don’t Get It
Many Britons – and even some Americans – have a false idea of what the US is really like. Are Hollywood and TV to blame?
The Terrorist Threat to Business
Luke Johnson, entrepreneur and business commentator, discusses terrorism’s growing menace with historian Michael Burleigh and Standpoint editor Daniel Johnson
A Distinct Lack of Backbone
Standpoint‘s Mole in the BBC exposes an organisation where inexperience is king and managers hate to judge
How to Make History Badly
Far from revealing what has gone wrong with American politics, Simon Schama’s new series shows what has gone wrong with British television
ONLINE ONLY: Situation Normal
Generation Kill, its critics and the messy reality of war
The Triumph of the Internet
With audiences turning to the online world, television is caught in a deadly web
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal