Once upon a time, musical artists sweated over their albums, arranging the tracks in just the right order, or using them to explore a single concept or theme. The chaotic, click-driven demands of streaming have put an end to all that. In The Free Press, River Page uses Lady Gaga’s latest release – covering every genre from techno-club pop to light rock to Taylor Swift parody – to lament albums’ loss of musical coherence. “It’s a mess,” Page explains.

A Man Who’d Do Anything to Evade the Truth
Spiked’s Matt Ridley details Anthony Fauci’s “public-sector version of insider trading.” Subpoenaed by the U.S. Senate to “discuss” the origin of Covid-19, the longest-serving and highest-paid U.S. bureaucrat instead invoked the Fifth Amendment (protecting against self-incrimination) some 111 times. Strange; he’d been pardoned by President Joe Biden. Nevertheless, it’s clear Fauci lied to the American people about nearly everything – starting with Covid’s true origins in the Wuhan lab. Further, his bizarre diary (saved to a government computer) details his “nauseating narcissism and gobsmacking greed,” says Ridley, and shows he cared more about his own fame than about ailing Americans.


