True crime’s legal pay-offs give it a righteous gloss – but it’s still only shallow, manipulative entertainment
The thrill of the genre is that it lends a factual story a dramatic twist. In fact, it is as subjective as fiction – only with…
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Emily Bootle
Emily Bootle is a sub-editor at the New Statesman.
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The Wagatha Christie trial is over. But it lives on in our hearts
Rebekah Vardy has lost her libel case against Coleen Rooney. This irresistible feud will entertain scholars of British culture…
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Social media’s consent problem
We may have opted in to social media but we have not – could never have – agreed to…
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Stranger Things series four is all about “trauma”. No wonder Gen Z love it
The sci-fi show is increasingly metaphorical, speaking directly to younger viewers well-acquainted with pop psychology.
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George Ezra’s Gold Rush Kid: the irresistible return of the barbecue troubadour
Ezra’s sun-soaked new album shows off his gap-year vibes and big wicket-keeper energy.
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Abba Voyage concert: a major technological and artistic achievement
All hail the “Abbatars” and the undeniable power of the band’s hits.
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Liam Gallagher’s new album is a soporific wade through the swampy waste of Britpop
Recycled choruses, vapid lyrics and meat-and-two-veg guitar: C’mon You Know could only achieve profundity if you were four pints…
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Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers brings the darker side of Englishness to Glyndebourne
Described as the most important English opera composed between Purcell and Britten, this is its first proper revival in…
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Florence and the Machine’s Dance Fever is a timeless, euphoric record
This is an immersive, cathartic new album of stadium-filling songs.
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