As Trump targets universities while Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem redefines habeas corpus as presidential deportation power, STEPHEN ARNELL traces how John Scopes’s optimism about academic freedom’s triumph now seems tragically premature
Stephen Arnell


STEPHEN ARNELL examines whether Starmer is a canny strategist playing a longer game or heading for MacDonald’s Great Betrayal, tracing parallels between today’s rightward drift and the 1931 crisis
![CS Lewis in 1947 [Pic: Scan of photograph by Arthur Strong]]( https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/low_resolution/public/2025-04/Untitled-1.jpg.webp?itok=RsbHM2ER)
After a ruinous run at Tolkien, the streaming platforms are moving on to Narnia — a naff mix of religious allegory, colonial attitudes, and thinly veiled prejudices that is beyond rescuing, writes STEPHEN ARNELL

STEPHEN ARNELL sees parallels between the US tech billionaire and HG Wells’s literary creation

David Lynch’s classic 1980 film The Elephant Man has some cruel parallels with Britain in 2025, argues STEPHEN ARNELL

Between Musk’s bizarre British power grab and Trump’s overtly corporate agenda, modern robber barons face a growing backlash — and history shows how determined leaders can tame ultra-rich excess, writes STEPHEN ARNELL