This week's Critics section boasts a stunning essay by the novelist Tom McCarthy on David Lynch, plus all our usual columnists, and reviews of the new Orhan Pamuk and Joyce Carol Oates novels. To read the lot, you'll have to head for your local newsagent (snow permitting). But in the meantime, here are a few choice morsels to whet your appetite:

Books: John Gray reviews The Neoliberal State and John O'Farrell reads Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger

TV: Rachel Cooke on the US hospital drama Nurse Jackie

Film: Ryan Gilbey on a powerful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road

Music: Daniel Trilling is exercised by Lady Gaga