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2 weeks ago | 
spectator.com.au | Sam Kriss
Ancient India: living traditionsBritish Museum, until 19 October The most-watched TV programme in human history isn’t the Moon landings, and it isn’t M*A*S*H; chances are it’s Ramayan, a magnificently cheesy 1980s adaptation of India’s national epic. The show has a status in India that’s hard to overstate. Something like 80 per cent of the entire population watched its original run; in rural areas entire villages would crowd around a single television hooked up to a car battery.
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2 weeks ago | 
spectator.co.uk | Sam Kriss
The most-watched TV programme in human history isn’t the Moon landings, and it isn’t M*A*S*H; chances are it’s Ramayan, a magnificently cheesy 1980s adaptation of India’s national epic. The show has a status in India that’s hard to overstate. Something like 80 per cent of the entire population watched its original run; in rural areas entire villages would crowd around a single television hooked up to a car battery.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Sam Kriss
AI is coming for everyone’s jobs, but especially mine. There is absolutely no good reason for The Spectator to keep sending me to watch films with my wobbly biological eyes, not when they could just feed the latest releases into a computer, set the parameters to “contemptuous,” and watch a perfectly serviceable review assemble itself, for free, before their eyes. They’re losing money on every column.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Sam Kriss
AI is coming for everyone’s jobs, but especially mine. There is absolutely no good reason for The Spectator to keep sending me to watch films with my wobbly biological eyes, not when they could just feed the latest releases into a computer, set the parameters to “contemptuous,” and watch a perfectly serviceable review assemble itself, for free, before their eyes. They’re losing money on every column.
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1 month ago | 
spectator.com.au | Sam Kriss
The Phoenician Scheme15, Nationwide AI is coming for everyone’s jobs, but especially mine. There is absolutely no good reason for The Spectator to keep sending me to watch films with my wobbly biological eyes, not when they could just feed the latest releases into a computer, set the parameters to ‘contemptuous’, and watch a perfectly serviceable review assemble itself, for free, before their eyes.
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1 month ago | 
spectator.co.uk | Sam Kriss
AI is coming for everyone’s jobs, but especially mine. There is absolutely no good reason for The Spectator to keep sending me to watch films with my wobbly biological eyes, not when they could just feed the latest releases into a computer, set the parameters to ‘contemptuous’, and watch a perfectly serviceable review assemble itself, for free, before their eyes. They’re losing money on every column.
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1 month ago | 
samkriss.substack.com | Sam Kriss
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedReviewed:On Democracies and Death Cults (book, Douglas Murray, London, 2025)Democracy (political form, Solon the Lawgiver, Athens, 594 BC)Death cult (attitude before the unknowable, unknown early humans, Qafzeh cave, Israel, 100,000 BC)Douglas Murray (contemptible little freak, Mr and Mrs Murray, London, 1979)Georges Ruggiu is a former special needs teacher from a small town in the south of Belgium.
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1 month ago | 
samkriss.substack.com | Sam Kriss
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedReviewed:On Democracies and Death Cults (book, Douglas Murray, London, 2025)Democracy (political form, Solon the Lawgiver, Athens, 594 BC)Death cult (attitude before the unknowable, unknown early humans, Qafzeh cave, Israel, 100,000 BC)Douglas Murray (contemptible little freak, Mr and Mrs Murray, London, 1979)Georges Ruggiu is a former special needs teacher from a small town in the south of Belgium.
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2 months ago | 
samkriss.substack.com | Sam Kriss
It’s a bright cloudless day and you’re meeting your beautiful submissive girlfriend for a breakfast date. You’re meeting her at the soda fountain. You’re meeting her at the ice cream parlour. You’re meeting her at the drugstore to share a malted milk. You’ve been going steady with your main squeeze and now you’re meeting her at the folksy chrome-and-cream diner on Main Street in your quiet walkable 98% white small American town. It’s always a bright cloudless day.
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Mar 10, 2025 | 
thespectator.com | James Heale |Mark Galeotti |Douglas Murray |Sam Kriss
It is difficult to overstate how much Trump has changed the dynamics of Canadian politics. When Justin Trudeau resigned on January 6, his Liberal party was on just 16 per cent in the polls — 25 points behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. Within six weeks, that had narrowed substantially, with Nanos suggesting there was just two points between the two parties. The top issue of national concern? Donald Trump and US relations.
