The Critic Magazine

29 July 2021

The double summer issue of The Critic is the perfect companion for the armchair or deckchair, offering cultivated views from fertile thinkers, both at home and abroad. At home, Ella Whelan questions whether many women and children may be more robust than mental health campaigners suggest; Arabella Byrne assesses how Covid’s victims should be commemorated; Olivia Hartley uncovers why some of Britain’s most socially exclusive public schools are adopting woke causes; Michael Collins fondly recalls when a trip to McDonald’s was considered a sign of cosmopolitanism; and Matt Ridley explores where rewilding is – and isn’t – good for the environment. Further afield, A.S.H. Smyth ventures to Saunders Island for evidence that Georgian Britons settled on the Falklands; Oliver Wiseman role-plays as an escaped slave in Detroit; Adam LeBor recalls terror and surreal moments reporting the war in the Balkans, and Boris Starling salutes Japan’s toughest Olympian. Plus, the cultural landscape is surveyed by Norman Lebrecht, Lisa Hilton, Hannah Betts, Sarah Ditum and Charles Saumarez Smith.