Tom Hodgkinson introduces the latest issue of the Idler

The new issue of the Idler has now been sent to subscribers. Once again it is a thing of great beauty and utility.

Our cover star is comedian and actress Sally Phillips who is just as entertaining in real life as she is on telly and film. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon in the pub with her, drinking half pints of shandy and talking about why she is anti-Bake Off.

Michael Palin returns with his idle thoughts, novelist Tim Lott finally sees a shrink and we meet historian Ronald Hutton to discuss the history of witchcraft.

We feature the first ever Idler Guide to Student Life, with a piece on student violence in the Middle Ages and reflections on education from Louis Theroux, Stewart Lee, Hadley Freeman and other Idler faves.

The Idler‘s brilliant art director, Alice Smith, has contributed a timely piece on living in a tower block, which, she says, has much to recommend it.

Plus our unmissable art flâneur column with Tim Richardson, and beer and wine and cartoons and merriment of the highest quality.

To buy a single copy direct from us, gift-wrapped in brown paper, stamped with a snail, and with an Idler bookmark, just click here.