‘Abel’s name means “vapour”, and a much later biblical writer would use that word to lament the vanity and insubstantiality of the world. Cain is our prototype.’ James Butler James B on the Book of Genesis: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

‘The central predicate of Genesis is human life and conduct. History, and the history of one marginal family-tribe, becomes the means through which God is known.’ James B on the Book of Genesis: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

So poisoned by years of audio production that I can only see this as a parametric EQ curve. (Which would probably produce something rather unpleasant and thin-sounding...)

‘The endless antics of the gods, squabbling and subduing and flaying each other to make the world, were finally of much less interest than the exigencies of moral freedom.’ James Butler (James B) on Genesis and the inauguration of monotheism: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

It is at this point all too easy to see that unless the US stops giving Israel weapons, the genocide will extend to the West Bank.

Our response to today's publication of the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report

Our new issue, 46.17, is now online, featuring: Perry Anderson on Zhou Enlai Mary Beard on the classicist Jane Ellen Harrison John Lanchester on finance CHRISTIAN LORENTZEN at the DNC and a cover by Alexander Gorlizki. Read online at lrb.co.uk

I don't know that it's the right one, but the government should look to co-opt Barbara Lane for a role. She's one of few who come out of the Grenfell evidence creditably, refusing Kingspan's solicitations and warning (before the fire) of an 'accident waiting to happen.'

On the eve of the Grenfell report, which makes clear that deregulation and state withdrawal were root causes of the fire, James Cleverly committed to a two-out, one-in approach to regulation. These people would see Grenfell repeated. politicshome.com/news/article/t…

I return to some reflections on Jane Ellen Harrisonin this week's London Review of Books . Celebrity classicist, witty self-ironiser and self constructor. tinyurl.com/3ndnerzk

You should be in prison, not the House of Lords.