Category Archives: Culture

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

Country Life Magazine – March 12, 2025 Preview

March 11, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (March 11, 2025): The cover of Country Life’s 12 March 2025 issue, featuring The Garden Hall at Pitshill House, West Sussex, as photographed by Paul Whitbread.

Water you wading for?

The village pond, once the hub around which community life revolved, is being reinvented as a ‘superpower’ habitat for rare species, finds Vicky Liddell

Sorry seems to be the easiest word

Deborah Nicholls-Lee makes no apology for asking why there is nothing more British than saying sorry (up to eight times a day, we regret to say)

Two’s company, three’s a crowd farmer

Jane Wheatley is impressed by a new European project linking farmers direct to consumers in an effort to ensure fair pricing

Peak sugar

Harry Pearson is sweet on Kendal Mint Cake, the original energy snack that is still going strong after conquering Everest and crossing the Antarctic

Arts & antiques

Nature’s beauty and vulnerability are laid bare in a new exhibition at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, as Carla Passino discovers

Josh Eggleton’s favourite painting

The chef and restaurant owner chooses a contemporary collage that keeps the viewer guessing

Like cats on a hot tin roof

A feline stand-off in a Wiltshire farmyard has echoes of tax and trade talks for Minette Batters

Gothic splendours

John Goodall hails the rebirth of Victorian gem Allerton Castle in North Yorkshire, some two decades after a devastating fire

The legacy

Kate Green lauds the brilliant, but tragically brief blooming of cello prodigy Jacqueline du Pré

The red army

Ian Morton reveals why we don’t want wood ants in our pants

The good stuff

Pretty pastels are back for spring, so think pink, says Hetty Lintell

Bring me everlasting flowers

Catriona Gray meets a man crafting blooms from coppiced hazel

If you want colour…

Picture-perfect primulas offer an easy way to festoon the garden with a kaleidoscope of colour, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

Foraging

John Wright savours the peppery crunch and kick of black mustard, but he’ll never pick it in Yeovil

It’s a Scream

The wild work of Edvard Munch betrayed a troubled soul, but the Norwegian artist found salvation in Nature, declares Jessica Lack

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New Yorker Magazine – March 17, 2025 Preview

March 10, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

An illustration of chefs and staff preparing food in a kitchen.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE (March 10, 2025): The latest issue cover features Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “Masterpiece” – Delicious forms of innovation.

The Unchecked Authority of Greg Abbott

The Texas governor gained national attention by busing migrants to Democratic cities. Jonathan Blitzer reports on how he’s paving the way for President Trump’s mass-deportation campaign. By Jonathan Blitzer

Trump’s Agenda Is Undermining American Science

Research funded by the federal government has found useful expression in many of the defining technologies of our time. This Administration threatens that progress. By Dhruv Khullar

How the Red Scare Reshaped American Politics

At its height, the political crackdown felt terrifying and all-encompassing. What can we learn from how the movement unfolded—and from how it came to an end? By Beverly Gage

Arts & Literature, Culture, History, Magazines, Reviews, Science

The American Scholar – Spring 2025 Issue Preview

March 8, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR (March 8, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Tiger, Tiger’ – Searching for the elusive big cat means learning to see the world anew…

Tiger Mom

At a forest preserve in India, a writer sees the world anew and learns how to focus her son’s restless mind By Elizabeth Kadetsky

Asteroid Hunters

The scientists and engineers who defend our planet day and night from potentially hazardous space rocks By Jessie Wilde

American Carthage

Echoes from the ancient conflicts between Hannibal’s city and Rome continue to reverberate well into the present By Charles G. Salas

Arts, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New York Times Magazine – March 9, 2025

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (03/07/2025): The 3.9.25 Issue features David Enrich on the attack on The New York Times v. Sullivan ruling and its protections for the press; Ruth Margalit on the activist Einav Zangauker, whose son is captive in Gaza; Jonah Weiner on the director Bong Joon Ho; and more.

The ‘Parasite’ Director Brings Class Warfare to Outer Space

Bong Joon Ho has turned his funny-sad excavations of life under capitalism into unlikely blockbusters. With “Mickey 17,” he’s bending a whole new genre.

Why Is Hollywood Obsessed With Architects? ‘The Brutalist’ Gives Us a Hint.

The trope of the embattled auteur exerting their will is too tempting for filmmakers to ignore. By Walker Mimms

Arts, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Tourism, Travel

Country Life Magazine – March 5, 2025 Preview

March 4, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (March 4, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The enfant terribile’ – Michelangelo; London’s best bakeries and why 1775 rocked; Charles Dance; Cheltenham and kitchen confidential…

The year the stars came out

A host of luminaries that were born in 1775 still shape British identity some 250 years on, as Matthew Dennison discovers

A horse walks into a bar…

Jack Watkins raises a glass to the Cheltenham superstars immortalised in the bars and restaurants at Prestbury Park

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe cooks up a real treat with the latest inspiration and innovations for the kitchen

London Life

– Amie Elizabeth White celebrates 100 years of the Dickens museum, plus Country Life’s guide to the best baked goods in the capital

Arts & antiques

Charles Dance talks to Carla Passino about Michelangelo, mentoring and why the Sistine chapel is like playing King Lear

The good, the bad and the ugly

Michael Hall delves into the genius of Michelangelo, at once the enfant prodige and enfant terribile of the Renaissance

Simon Martin’s favourite painting

The art-gallery director selects a beguiling 17th-century miniature revealing a connection to Nature

A regal renewal

John Goodall hails the revival of Restoration House in Kent, a magnificent property that welcomed Charles II in 1660

The legacy

Agnes Stamp hails the ‘British Barnum’ Charles Cruft, whose dog show is still best in class

Shiver me timbers

The once-popular black poplar could be our secret weapon in the battle against climate change, finds Vicky Liddell

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell’s top tips on what to wear to the Cheltenham Festival

And it was all yellow

Charles Quest-Ritson brightens his day with the cheerful flowers of the ever-dependable forsythia

Sharp practice

The thorny old issue of pruning roses, with Charles Quest-Ritson

Foraging

Is tapping birch-tree sap worth the bother, asks John Wright

Travel

Emma Love shares the latest cruise news, Imogen West-Knights finds everything shipshape in the South of France, John Niven follows in the wake of Mr Mississippi Mark Twain and Pamela Goodman’s birthday treats take on a life of their own

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New York Times Magazine – March 2, 2025

February 28, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 3.2.25 Issue features Amanda Hess on the actress Parker Posey; David Leonhardt on Denmark’s brand of progressive politics that features strict immigration measures; Daniel Bergner on the Israeli screenwriter Yehonatan Indursky; and more.Read this issue

How an Anguished Mother Became Netanyahu’s Fiercest Foe

Einav Zangauker, whose son is captive in Gaza, has made herself an enemy of the Israeli government by advocating relentlessly for a hostage deal.

Timothée Chalamet Should Win an Oscar for His Oscar Campaign

Lobbying the public to attract the votes of the academy is an odd practice — but you can’t say Chalamet hasn’t excelled at it.

In an Age of Right-Wing Populism, Why Are Denmark’s Liberals Winning?

Around the world, progressive parties have come to see tight immigration restrictions as unnecessary, even cruel. What if they’re actually the only way for progressivism to flourish?

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The Guardian Weekly – February 28, 2025 Preview

February 27, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY (February 27, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Middle Man’ – Can Friedrich Merz mend Germany?

Can Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting fend off the far right? Plus: Bong Joon-ho interviewed

Diverting our eyes away from Trumpworld for a moment this week, attention shifted to Germany where Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance came out on top in the country’s federal elections.

For many though, the story of the night belonged to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, which received more than a fifth of the vote and came top in virtually the entire eastern side of the country. Merz’s alliance did not win an outright majority so, having previously vowed not to work with the AfD, the chancellor-in-waiting must now try to form a grand coalition with other mainstream parties, which is likely to include Olaf Scholz’s heavily defeated SPD.

Amid surging support for the far right, Ashifa Kassam and Deborah Cole report from Berlin, where many people from immigrant backgrounds feel real fear for the future. Kate Connolly looks at Merz’s bulging in-tray as likely new leader of the EU’s largest economy, while in an opinion piece Musa Okwonga writes powerfully about the extent of anti-migrant feeling and xenophobia in Germany’s “time of the cowards”.

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New York Times Magazine – Feb 23, 2025

February 23, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 2.23.25 Issue features Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg on the Murdochs’ succession drama; David Yaffe-Bellany on the cryptocurrency scam that turned a small community on itself; Ismail Muhammad on the comedian Roy Wood Jr….

Six Takeaways About the Murdoch Succession Fight

Here are the main revelations about the battle for control from a secret Nevada trial.

The Comedian Looking for Something All of America Can Laugh At

Roy Wood Jr. performs in small clubs from Georgia to Wyoming, finding humor in the moments that leave us humbled and confused.

The Cryptocurrency Scam That Turned a Small Town Against Itself

How did a successful, financially sophisticated banker gamble his community’s money away?

Read this issue

Culture, Essays, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

Harper’s Magazine – March 2025 Preview

February 19, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Harper’s Magazine (February 19, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Round Two – Trump’s Futile War Against The Deep State; Listening for the Future of Music; RAchel Cusk on Marin Amis and The Softer Side of American Conspiracy Theories…

Rage Against the Machine

Trump’s second attempt at dismantling the bureaucracy by Andrew Cockburn

New World Symphonies

Listening for the future of music by Matthew Sherrill

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

Country Life Magazine – February 19, 2025 Preview

February 18, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (February 18, 2025):

The legacy

Kate Green celebrates the Revd Gilbert White, the original ecologist whose 1789 book on flora and fauna has never been out of print

Mad as a box of frogs

Our amphibious friends were once thought to possess mystical powers and they now aid the advance of medicine, as Ian Morton discovers

The ghost of golden daffodils

David Jones traces the fall and rise of the Tenby daffodil — all but extinct in the wild, but making a return as a cultivated bloom

The lure of Venice

Matthew Dennison investigates Britain’s long-standing love affair with the Italian maritime republic, fuelled by Canaletto’s enchanting, kaleidoscopic vedute

Playing the fool

Who could have foreseen the influence of tarot cards down the ages? Deborah Nicholls-Lee delves into decks and divination

Dr Ximena Fuentes Torrijo’s favourite painting

The Ambassador of Chile picks a vast, dreamlike Surrealist work that portrays a turbulent world.

A sense of delight

John Goodall marvels at the outstanding array of new and restored buildings on the grand Aldourie estate in Inverness-shire