Issue 1344

Comfort in the chaos
As frontwoman of gothic post-punk band Savages, Jehnny Beth was a thrillingly confrontational figure. But on her solo debut the French-Londoner reveals shards of self-doubt, while a new book of erotic fiction gives one last kicking to her repressed Catholic upbringing. Gary Ryan talks to her.

Riding the wave
When the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a maritime shutdown a group of scientists pounced in a bid to record the oceans and their inhabitants without the cacophony of humankind, writes Maurice Tamman.

'We must change the way we understand our history’
The abhorrence of slavery has come under an ever fiercer spotlight recently. Historian Toby Green tells Jamie Kenny how it destabilised the early modern African nations that had been
equal business partners with European countries.

Plus
News, arts and entertainment, columnist Roger Ratcliffe on the perils of easing the lockdown, poet laureate Simon Armitage’s letter to his younger self, crossword, Sudoku and more.