AJAdam J Smith

1. Article · Aug 18, 2026 · Adam J Smith

   Don’t eat your feelings (or the rich) warns the surprisingly wholesome absurdist satire, Lady (opens the original)

   Excerpt · Positive tone · English

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   On its surface, Samuel Abrahams’ Lady appears to be a familiar entry in the recent “eat the rich” cinematic trend, trailing in the wake of high-profile films like Saltburn, Parasite, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness. However, there is more to this surrealist film. Here the setting is Ravenhyde Hall, a country estate in Suffolk where Lady Isabella (played by Sian Clifford) resides in eccentric isolation. The 40-something Isabella has decided that she is “aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians” a

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2. Article · Aug 17, 2026 · Adam J Smith

   Some of the most trusted political voices in 18th-century Britain were fictional – why this tradition lives on (opens the original)

   Excerpt · English

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   British writers in the 18th century repeatedly invented fictional characters to intervene in the politics and culture of their day. These usually began as jokes aimed at particular people or issues, but the most successful outlived their original purpose. They accumulated personalities, histories and audiences of their own, becoming trusted voices through which readers could make sense of the world. We see a continuation of this tradition in Clacton by-election loser Count Binface. Considered a

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