Culture & ideas

The Dividual Strikes Back

why nothing and everything is your fault Quick note: If you’d prefer to listen to this, I read it aloud here . In Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 cult indie classic film “Cube” a group of disconnected individuals awake alone in a labyrinth of identical interlocking rooms. Throughout the film they must find each other and work together to survive a ghastly array of fatal traps and puzzle their way out. Each character seems to have a purpose; a doctor, a police officer, an escape artist, a maths wiz and we see them coordinate their unique skills to outwit the sadistic mastermind behind… … The Cube It’s a

LessWrong · EN

Are economists declining in status?

That is the theme of my latest Free Press article. Excerpt, which offers the beginning of the story: If we look at the 1960s, the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson administrations brought James Tobin, Robert Solow, Kenneth Arrow (all three later Nobel laureates), Arthur Okun, Walter Heller, Gardner Ackley, Otto Eckstein, and Walt […] The post Are economists declining in status? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION .

Marginal Revolution · EN

The economics of tips

Tipping is large and growing, but we know little about its consequences for workers and firms. We link point-of-sale and payroll records at 20,000 U.S. firms, which lets us observe tips from customer payment to worker earnings. We find that tips are a nearly constant share of revenue, which means hourly pay moves with revenue. […] The post The economics of tips appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION .

Marginal Revolution · EN

‘At my age, I can rant!’ Bernie Taupin on Elton John, hellraising vampires and competing in full-blown rodeos

He is the outstanding lyricist who propelled the Rocket Man to 300m sales. As Taupin releases a wistfully grouchy solo album, he talks about the joy of anonymity, his LA drinking gang – and owning a prize-winning bucking bull Bernie Taupin has an interesting take on the strange brand of fame he enjoys. “I am,” he says, “what I call the credit card guy.” I’m sorry? You’re the what? “The credit card guy. I go somewhere, like a shop or a restaurant, and it’s fine. I can be me, no one notices. Then I pay with my credit card and they see the name and go” – he lets out a mock gasp – “‘You’re that gu

Guardian Culture · EN

‘It brings soul into this sterile world’: the Birmingham clubbers fighting to save their patch – and Britain’s nightlife

Digbeth is the city’s most thriving party district, but railway upgrades could tear it apart. Here, clubbers explain why they are doing everything to stop that happening House beats ring out through the open air while a heaving crowd of young partygoers dance. Suddenly, they begin to chant: “Richard Parker, Richard Parker!” You might think he is the next DJ on the set list, but in fact he is the mayor of the West Midlands and this block party has been assembled to send him a message: leave Digbeth alone. It’s Sunday night and I’m in Birmingham’s trendy party district. It’s filled with bars, wa

Guardian Culture · EN

TV tonight: Aidan Gillen stars in a twisty Irish crime caper

A nurse with a drug habit is tempted by a gangster’s money in Tall Tales and Murder. Plus: an inside look at Burnham’s first 100 days. Here’s what to watch this evening 10.40pm, BBC One This breezy Irish crime caper is directed by Chris Addison and stars the excellent Ella Lily Hyland as Bridget, a kindly nurse with a secret drug habit, a taste for folk horror stories and a willingness to dispatch suffering patients. When patient Grinner (Aidan Gillen) wakes from a coma and reveals himself to be a gangster with a hoard of buried treasure, Bridget spies an opportunity. Twisty fun with an edge o

Guardian Culture · EN

Send in the clowns! Dreamlike images – in pictures

Nicolas Rachline’s stunning book Elsebound is full of painterly photographs inspired by Edward Hopper and Blade Runner. He explains his uniquely haunting style Continue reading...

Guardian Culture · EN

New Group review – schoolkids build human pyramids in bizarre Japanese horror-satire on conformity

Two outsider students at a super-strict high school find they are definitely not with the programme in Yûta Shimotsu’s body-bending sci-fi scarer Here is an intermittently amusing Japanese social satire about conformity directed by Yûta Shimotsu; it has flashes of brilliance but lacks the kind of engaging characters that could have taken it to the next level. Ai (Anna Yamada) is an unpopular pupil who has always tried to fit in, and Yu (Yuzu Aoki) is a transfer student who more deliberately resists the demands of peer pressure. Their high school is super-strict at a baseline level – and when t

Guardian Culture · EN

Lords of Serendipity by Randy Boyagoda review – a campus satire for this moment of crisis

This propulsive, globe-trotting tale brilliantly skewers the corruption and corporatisation of higher education It’s no secret that academia is on the blink; Canadian author Randy Boyagoda’s new novel, which is equal parts satire, dystopia and exposé, tells the story of all that’s wrong, glitchy and broken. Set across Sri Lanka, the United States and Italy, it centres on a cast of students, parents and professors, and their dealings with a common antagonist: the university. The first character we meet is Sri Lankan teen Devi, who is set on obtaining offers from “Ochpys” – her acronym for Oxfor

Guardian Culture · EN

Honouring the departed: All Souls’ Day observed in India and Bangladesh – in pictures

Devotees gather in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and across India to observe All Souls’ Day, dedicated to remembering and honouring the dead. The occasion brings together members of the Christian community to offer prayers for departed loved ones and reflect on life, death and remembrance through faith and tradition. Picture essay: How rebuilding old mosques is bringing Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims together in Punjab Continue reading...

Guardian Culture · EN

Citizen Kim by Jonathan Van Meter review – Kardashian under the microscope

The author gets a backstage pass to the personal life of the world’s most famous woman – but what do we really learn? The magazine writer Jonathan Van Meter profiles very famous people for extremely glossy publications. He was responsible for the notorious 1990 interview in which supermodel Linda Evangelista said she wouldn’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day, and in recent years, he has interviewed Taylor Swift, Michelle Obama and Lady Gaga for American Vogue. In 2019, he wrote a cover story, also for Vogue, on Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star turned business­woman turned criminal justic

Guardian Culture · EN

‘I perfected deception’: My secret life as a relapsed alcoholic | Meghan O'Gieblyn

Everyone knew about my years of addiction, the dangers I had put myself in. The second time around, after 11 years sober, not even my husband knew I am finding it very hard to write about my return to drinking. This is unexpected, given that I spent more than 10 years identifying as an alcoholic and narrating, from the podiums of church basements, the most shameful and unflattering moments of my life. The story of how you initially fell into addiction is comparatively easy to tell, because it’s widely understood that nobody chooses to become an addict, that it’s something that sneaks up on you

The Guardian Long Read · EN

‘Shakespeare at Thirty’ by Rory Loughnane review

‘Shakespeare at Thirty’ by Rory Loughnane review James Hoare Tue, 11/03/2026 - 09:09 Shakespeare at Thirty by Rory Loughnane pieces together the crucial three decades in which the bard was born.

History Today · EN

The Sack of Antwerp

The Sack of Antwerp James Hoare Tue, 11/03/2026 - 09:09 On 4 November 1576 the mutinous Spanish army took what they were owed from Antwerp. The city never recovered.

History Today · EN

WOLVES OF SUMMER

It’s 1979, and Bonnet Shores is slowly knitting itself back together after last summer’s rash of home invasions. The perpetrators were caught, and while alarm systems now protect windows such as 15-year-old Maddie Grove’s, she’s happy to once again have the freedom to stay out late with her friends, and have her crush visit her secretly at night. But then, one July night, Maddie’s 12-year-old sister, Christina, fails to come home. The members of the local beach club, owned by the Mancini family, immediately organize searches, and the Groves’ neighbor, Diana González, who’s studying criminal ju

Kirkus · EN

SWEET PEA

The latest novel by de Waal ( My Name Is Leon , 2016) was published in the U.K. last year as The Best of Everything . It reaches these shores with a new, more memorable title that underscores the story’s folksy tenderness. “My Sweet Pea” is what Paulette’s grandmother called her as a girl on St. Kitts, raising her after the death of her mother. Paulette came to England with Granny at age 11; she was 21 when Granny returned home, leaving Paulette, now working as an auxiliary nurse at Princess Alexandria Hospital, to reminisce about her idyllic Caribbean childhood. When the novel opens in 1972,

Kirkus · EN

MAMA STRANGELOVE

“The world does not need another parenting book,” writes Grimm in her own parenting book, where she likewise notes that parenting can be so exhausting and baffling that it can use all the advice manuals it can get. “Every day of parenting is Saigon in 1975,” she writes. “It is often defeating, sometimes humiliating, and you are left to ponder at the end of the night whether you made the right decisions.” In these pages, she relates some of the lessons she’s learned in her years of raising her three children—Hugo, André, and “explosive” Lulu (“a Mussolini in a tow-headed body”)—comically stress

Kirkus · EN

MY PRESSURES

English actor, director, and motion-capture pioneer Serkis is a thrill-seeker in life—he writes here of his successful “solo assault” on the Matterhorn—and also in his art. His attitude is distilled in his initial response to being asked to play Ulysses Klaue in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015): “Charismatic South African villain who gets his arm chopped off? Count me in.” Such an adventuresome spirit can’t be expected to write a straightforward memoir or even to give it a straightforward title. (This one plays on Gollum’s catchphrase, “my precious.”) Periodically interrupting Serkis’ c

Kirkus · EN

DESIRE FEEDS THE FEAST

Morrell received a comprehensive education in food and drink from parents who ran a wine business. Moreover, her mother schooled her in social graces and an appreciation for beauty and knowledge, telling her, “Being erudite will only help you in life.” Morrell is erudite indeed, dropping $10 words (exuded, charlatan, unctuous) exactly where they fit. She’s also spectacularly unlucky throughout this memoir, from a terrible accident that ended her girlhood dream of being an equestrian to attaching herself to men who had “a tendency to fuck things up.” Her mother imparted “a restless sense of str

Kirkus · EN

WTF IS A PODCAST WITH MARC MARON

Over its tenure from 2009 to 2025, WTF , Marc Maron’s interview podcast, became a meaningful model for the medium—a line late in the book succinctly states that in the podcast universe, “in terms of one-on-one interviews there was a lot of Maron in the primordial ooze.” He steadily honed his craft, connecting with guests by taking a page from his sobriety journey. Many of his first guests were friends from the comedy world, with whom Maron would reflect on their relationship “to see where he may have hurt them…and [get] their perspective on it.” This relational approach helped broaden WTF ’s a

Kirkus · EN

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CHRISTMAS MURDERS

Seeking a holiday gift for their landlady, Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock Holmes takes Dr. John Watson to Whiteley’s, where screams and blood alert them to a startling tableau: A man is dangling from the upper branches of the half-decorated Christmas tree adorning the emporium’s main floor. Inspector Darke, the Metropolitan Police officer called to the scene by officious owner William Whiteley, pronounces Albert Robinson’s death accidental even before his body has been taken down and identified, but Holmes quietly corrects him: The carotid artery of Whiteley’s jack-of-all-trades has been cut. The recip

Kirkus · EN

THE SILVER KINGDOM

Prince Zayd of Dakaria doesn’t have time to grieve his dying father or savor a hard-won battle before he’s thrust into assuming a throne he isn’t ready for. Between fending off silver-hungry pirates, trying to avoid an unwanted engagement, and concealing a wound from a deadly poisoned arrow that’s curable only by a rare antidote, Zayd, who has warm brown skin and dark hair, is stretched thinner than his depleted army. Seventeen-year-old, dark-haired, amber-eyed Princess Layla of Sawan arrives in Dakaria reeling from the loss of her father, the shock of her mother’s forcing her betrothal to a p

Kirkus · EN

Louise Kennedy, Tom Drury, Elizabeth McCracken, and more: 20 new books out today!

We welcome November with a wonderful crop of literary works: Louise Kennedy, Tom Drury, Elizabeth McCracken, Michelle Porter, and more, all contribute to our stunning pile of newly released fiction. On the nonfiction side, legendary historian Dan Jones, as well

Literary Hub · EN

“Hyena Boys”

1 The hyena boys came to Bonaventure, which was serendipitous, because he was used to avoiding the world before the world spurned him. For one, his white albino skin flecked with dark spots made him a regular target of mockery.

Literary Hub · EN