Confident protocols of cultural judgement have gone. Today, amid the competing voices of 'relativism', 'essentialism' and the hectic production of culture and opinion, 'our own response' to the arts is no simple matter, writes John Corner
Reality TV is the consequence of liberalisation, a mix of the idiotic and the sublime. Clive Bloom surfs the multichannel-verse in search of entertainment
Fifty years old today, Coronation Street redefined commercial television. Clive Bloom celebrates the quietly socialist institution, once radical, now nostalgic, that offers us a vision of working-class heroism
An exhibition celebrating the diversity of English throughout history prompts Matthew Reisz to wonder if it is ever possible to halt a language's evolution
Shifting ideas of 'honour' have played a role in atrocities such as foot binding and the slave trade, but the concept can also be used to change entrenched views and end injustices, philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah tells Matthew Reisz
Artist-in-residence schemes create a fertile breeding ground for fresh ideas, as scientists and engineers share their knowledge and insights with those in the humanities. Hannah Fearn discovers how the collaborations pay off
For decades, gay men lived in a 'virtual' world outside the mainstream, so links between the subculture and the web are both logical and ripe for scrutiny. Matthew Reisz cruises the 'queer digital spaces' with academic Sharif Mowlabocus
Paul Gauguin is the subject of a major international exhibition. Alex Danchev considers the Conradian life of the artist, his restlessness, his knack for self-publicity, his carefully crafted 'savage' persona - and how his legacy was secured