Category Archives: Culture

Culture, Gardens, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

Country Life Magazine – April 2, 2025 Preview

April 1, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (April 1, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Smaller Country Houses’; The Maldives unpacked; How to grow a magnificent magnolia and The Portmeirion phenomenon and secret pillboxes…

Interiors

The art of conversation can be aided by a carefully configured drawing room, says Emma Burns of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler

All ‘Clough-ed up’

Ben Lerwill marks 100 years of Portmeirion in North Wales, the outlandish architectural creation of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis

Property market

Arabella Youens casts her eye over compact country estates in Dorset, Devon and Hertfordshire

A prince among plantsmen

Charles Quest-Ritson is wowed by the memorable magnolias among the 6,000 plants in the Kent garden of Maurice Foster

Travel

Libby Brodie and Rosie Paterson explore the magnificent Maldives and Pamela Goodman shares not so fond memories of cheese fondue

Zoë Wanamaker’s favourite painting

The actress chooses a vibrant work bursting with the light, colour and energy of spring

A house of many inspirations

Jeremy Musson marvels at the amazing transformation of 300-year-old farm buildings at High Wardington House, Oxfordshire

The legacy

Kate Green pays tribute to Joe Henson, a ‘true gentleman’ who led the way in safeguarding some of our favourite native breeds

From this slumber you shall wake

Numbers have plummeted in the past 20 years, but plans are afoot to revive the fortunes of the hazel dormouse, reveals Jack Watkins

The good stuff

Immortalise your beloved pet in a beautiful piece of bespoke jewellery, suggests Hetty Lintell

London Life

Amie Elizabeth White embarks on the capital’s Big Egg Hunt, Country Life writers present all the titbits you need to know this month and Huon Mallalieu takes a trip down memory lane as he recalls the colourful characters of Booksellers’ Row

Foraging

John Wright lauds elderflower for its ‘scent beyond compare’

Arts & antiques

Carla Passino delves into the beauty, birds and beasts in the kingdom of J. M. W. Turner

Close to your chest

Huon Mallalieu investigates how the chest of drawers has gradually made itself at home in every room of the house

A song of the four seasons

Henrietta Bredin applauds the fusing of poetry and music in the exquisite song cycle ‘Seasons’

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New York Times Magazine – March 30, 2025

March 28, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (March 28, 2025): The 3.30.25 Issue features Nicholas Casey on Germany and the remains of its fascist past; Charles Homans on the strange popularity of the Unabomber’s manifesto; Bruce Schoenfeld on the ways baseball analytics are changing the game for starting pitchers; Jonah Weiner on the comedy of Andy Kaufman; and more.

Unburying the Remains of the Third Reich

As the German right ascends, the nation is still grappling with its fascist past — and how to handle its remains.

How Analytics Marginalized Baseball’s Superstar Pitchers

Why has pro baseball made it so hard for today’s pitchers to achieve greatness? By Bruce Schoenfeld

Howie Rose Is the Sportscaster Mets Fans Deserve

Amid a changing game, the voice of the Mets since 1995 has anchored its fans to a shared identity. By Joshua Dubler

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New York Times Magazine – March 23, 2025

March 20, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (March 20, 2025): The 3.23.25 Issue features Matt Flegenheimer and Dana Rubinstein on Eric Adams’s scandal-ridden mayoralty; Helen Ouyang on how airline pilots are pushed to hide their mental health issues; Parul Sehgal on progressives and solidarity; and more.

How Eric Adams Lost New York

He promised law and order. Instead, his scandal-ridden mayoralty became a symbol — and engine — of the city’s chaos.

Why Airline Pilots Feel Pushed to Hide Their Mental Illness

Is the F.A.A. really ensuring

How Generative A.I. Complements the MAGA Style

Online Trump supporters have embraced a unique form of irony that is hard to parse — and easy to deploy with new technologies.safety by disqualifying pilots who receive a diagnosis or treatment?

Culture, Essays, Magazines, Opinion, Reviews

Culture: Harper’s Magazine – April 2025

March 19, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

HARPER’S MAGAZINE (March 19, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Social-Skills Crisis’ – Have we forgotten how to work together?; Undercover with New York’s Guardian Angels and The End of Psychoanalysis As We Know It?…

Going Soft – Future-proofing the American worker

by Lily Scherlis

The Last Detail – On patrol with the Guardian Angels

by Kent Russell

The Social Turn – Psychoanalysis at an inflection point

by Maggie Doherty

Culture, Gardens, History, Homes, Magazines, Reviews, Uncategorized

Country Life Magazine – March 19, 2025 Preview

March 19, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (March 19, 2025): The cover of Country Life’s 19 March 2025 issue, featuring Wollerton Old Hall Garden in Shropshire,

Building on a dream

Nicola Taylor tells Tiffany Daneff how she ‘picked up a spade and carried on’ where her father left off in a Northamptonshire wood

It starts with a seed

Is there anything more satisfying than growing a plant from seed? Find out how with John Hoyland

The ground crew

Christopher Stocks meets the unsung heroes and heroines of horticulture who keep Britain’s best gardens in mint condition

Shocking pinks

Tilly Ware recommends a trip to Cornwall’s Calamazag nursery to pick up the perfect pinks

United colours of Rolls-Royce

Toby Keel finds the British marque making a bold, banana-yellow statement as he gets behind the wheel of the new Series II Ghost

A uniform approach

Never try to appear fashionable or attempt to look young — Dylan Jones shares his golden rules on how to dress in your sixties

Hare’s to you

Murderous, mad and magnificent: the hare is a fascinating figure in art, discovers Michael Prodger

Sir James MacMillan’s favourite painting

The composer chooses a bold and moving religious painting

The architect for me

In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet examines the double act of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and client Reginald McKenna

Take it with a pinch of salt

Deborah Nicholls-Lee examines the salt-loving plants coming into their own in a changing climate

A night on the tiles

Harry Pearson finds drunken may-hem in the history of dominoes

The good stuff

A vase is a Mother’s Day gift that keeps on giving, says Hetty Lintell

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe applauds the updating of a Wiltshire sitting room, as Arabella Youens asks: are you sitting comfortably?

Sour to the people

Fish and chips wouldn’t be fish and chips without a glug of malt vinegar, argues Rob Crossan

Pho sure

Asian noodle soup tempts Tom Parker Bowles with its thrilling symphony of fragrant flavours

Foraging

Handle with care when picking hogweed and cow parsley for the kitchen, warns John Wright

Arts & antiques

Carlo Passino throws the spotlight on the engaging drawings of literary legend Victor Hugo

Directors take centre stage

Shakespeare and Chekhov are given an imaginative new spin — and Michael Billington approves

And much more

Science, Technology, Culture, Magazines

The New Atlantis Magazine – Spring 2025

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THE NEW ATLANTIS (March 18, 2025): The Spring 2025 issue features How the water system works, how virologists lost the gain-of-function debate, living well with AI, a physics that cares, and more…

How Virologists Lost the Gain-of-Function Debate

For years, scientists kept the debate about risky virus research among themselves. Then Covid happened. As President Trump prepares to crack down on virology research, the expert community must face up to its own failures.

Stop Hacking Humans

From cradle to grave, surrogacy to smartphones to gender surgery to euthanasia, Americans are using technology to shortcut human nature — and shortchange ourselves. Here is a new agenda for turning technology away from hacking humans and toward healing them.

The Mars Dream Is Back — Here’s How to Make It Actually Happen

Between SpaceX’s breakthroughs and Trump’s inaugural promise, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But it can’t be realized as an eccentric’s project or a pork banquet. Here’s a science-driven program that could get astronauts on the Red Planet by 2031.

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

The New Criterion ——- April 2025 Preview

March 15, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW CRITERION (March 15, 2025): The April issue features

The hard Frost by Brenda Wineapple

Vicar’s vision by Micah Mattix

Ambassador of dreams by Gary Saul Morson

The lush fields of allusion by Rachel Hadas

Ezra Pound & the mystery of the calling cards by William Logan

Arts, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The New York Times Magazine – March 16, 2025

March 15, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (March 15, 2025): The 3.16.25 Issue features Extreme Voyages Issue, Evgenia Abrugaeva on the Ice Age bone hunters of Siberia; J Wortham on a 10-day crash course for surviving the Apocalypse; Doug Bock Clark on adventure racing through a hurricane; Sam Anderson on following the path of The Old Leatherman; Sara Benincasa on a trip to the grocery store as an agoraphobe; and more.

Diving With Siberian Bone Hunters

A search for the fossils of long-extinct creatures, hidden in Russia’s frigid waters.

How Generative A.I. Complements the MAGA Style

Online Trump supporters have embraced a unique form of irony that is hard to parse — and easy to deploy with new technologies. By Dan Brooks

The Old Idea That Could Give New Life to Progressive Politics

During the first Trump era, the resistance engaged in soaring rhetoric about unity — then fell apart. Will this time be different?By Parul Sehgal

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