The Critic Magazine

28 September 2023

In the October issue of The Critic magazine, Jo Bartosch talks to a former Sinn Féin activist, Máiría Cahill, about what happened when she accused an IRA member of raping her and her subsequent ordeal at the hands not only of Sinn Féin but also the Guardian newspaper and the British legal system. Victoria Smith assesses whether Keir Starmer has found a way of keeping both transgender and women’s rights campaigners in Labour’s tent, and Sebastian Milbank argues that Labour’s popularity hides its missed opportunity to recast British politics. Alexander Larman remembers Rishi Sunak’s schooldays whilst, across the Atlantic, The Critic profile examines why a politician named Pierre Poilievre seems poised to upturn the Liberal party’s grip over Canada. From Canberra, Tim Smith describes why the referendum to create a parliamentary assembly only for Aboriginals is dividing Australians. Samuel Rubinstein takes issue with historians who claim the Dark Ages were really a time of enlightenment, whilst on the fiftieth anniversary of The World at War’s first being broadcast, Andrea Valentino talks to those who helped make the series and discovers how they successfully coaxed sometimes uncomfortable confessions from ex-combatants. Also, Lisa Hilton enjoys Venice’s film festival, Lola Salem asks why if opera still receives so much subsidy, so few acclaimed new operas result, and Henry Jeffreys picks the best ciders for autumn.