The Critic Magazine

26 January 2023

What’s going on — and wrong — on campus? From the triumph of the box tickers and crushing of those who “do not align with our values” to insider revelations on the criteria admissions tutors use and the high volume of international postgraduates enrolled at institutions with curiously low research rankings, the February issue of The Critic magazine brings a series of special features exploring why university life has lost its sparkle for academics and students alike. With museums under pressure to hand over their collections of Benin bronzes to Nigeria, Mike Wells goes in search of the bronzes still held in that country and makes some worrying discoveries. Meanwhile, in Munich, William Cook admires the art of Max Beckmann, and in Venice, Alasdair Palmer asks why, if Tiepolo’s glorious frescoes have been under restoration for fifteen years, no work has been done? Also in the February issue of The Critic, Ellen Pasternack questions the government’s childcare strategy, Boris Starling explains why rugby is in crisis, Michael Henderson tries to find a way out of the Moral Maze and Lisa Hilton samples what’s on the menu in the Palace of Westminster. All this and The Critic’s customary distillation of wisdom and enlightenment from the mixed ingredients of contemporary politics, culture and entertainment.