Why dictators find the lure of writing books irresistible
Daniel Kalder investigates why dictators have aspired to be, as Stalin put it, “engineers of souls”, and – in pursuit of…
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Delusions of empire
Thurston Moore Q&A: “I was happiest when I was poor, trundling through the world“
The musician talks the rock’n’roll music programmes of the 1970s, the advent of idiot Trump and the hate agenda of Brexit.
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You’re either floored by flu – or you don’t even know you’ve got it
In a 2011 study, only 25 per cent of patients who tested positive for influenza actually had any symptoms.
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Being entertaining is best reserved for strangers – real friends need not dazzle
She’s always late, I forget she takes sugar. And in those humdrum rituals, true friendship is made.
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Free lodging, dodgy late-night snacks, and cats – at last, a job I’m qualified for
All you need to know about cats is that they will tear your heart out, metaphorically if not literally,…
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Ouzo, raki, absinthe and pastis – many nations have their strange, divisive aniseed drink
Most such tipples are noticeably lacking in fans beyond their native national borders.
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The Gili Islands’ radio paints an increasingly dishonest picture of the post-Goa rave destination
Chilli Island Radio plays songs like The Doors’ “LA Woman”, with its shaggy-headed bass line, written around the time…
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All wonder has been lost from Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck by the movie’s end
The film, which tells the tale of two adventurers separated by half a century, falls to pieces in its second…
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Why Labour must back a new Brexit referendum
In the era of Trumpian unilateralism and Russian aggression, EU withdrawal is more reckless than ever.
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An Englishman and an Irishman: two TV tributes to Seventies light entertainers
BBC Two remembers Dave Allen in a disappointingly flat biopic, while ITV3 pays homage to the enduringly funny Larry Grayson.
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From Augustus to FDR, why a nimble mind is the key to successful leadership
In On Grand Strategy, historian John Lewis Gaddis offers a timely historical overview of the constituents of leadership from the…
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Jacqueline Rose’s book offers a clear-sighted analysis of what it means to be a mother
The womb is a battlefield. Never underestimate the amount of sadism pregnant women can evoke, warns Rose.
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Set between Sheffield and Bangladesh, The Friendly Ones is frequently disorientating
Philip Hensher’s 12th work of fiction is a synthesis of material, traditions and styles.
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Mark Cocker’s Our Place makes clear that Britain’s countryside is in real trouble
“What countryside?” a friend of Cocker’s pointedly asks.
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Prince of petulance: Tom Bowers uncovers the right royal foibles of the heir to the throne
The problem with Rebel Prince is that the author’s hatred of Prince Charles renders every titbit credibility lite.
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A look at the long prime of novelist Muriel Spark on the centenary of her birth
Catholic and rational, profound and comic, Scottish and international: the novelist squared circle after circle.
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The nurse who calmly saved my life (and won’t even remember doing so)
“Do you think she’ll ever think about what she did for me?” I asked. “I think she’ll go home…
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Even in old age, philosopher Bryan Magee remains wonder-struck by the ultimate questions
A broadcaster, politician, author and poet, Magee once occupied many prominent roles. Now, in old age, he lives in one…
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The past is another country: busting the myth of Global Britain
The world invested in Britain as a gateway to Europe. This, rather than the Anglosphere fantasies of the Brexiteers,…
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The fraught politics of the polar bear: how an Arctic icon has been exploited
There is a disparity between the bear’s idealised portrayal, and the messy reality of its warming world.
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New Economics Foundation head Miatta Fahnbulleh on how to replace the UK’s broken economic model
“The British public won’t suck up 15 years, if not longer, of wage stagnation without some kind of political…
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Commons Confidential: Is Brexit’s latest victim the unstable bromance of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove?
Your weekly dose of gossip from Westminster.
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Why we founded new political party MeRA25 to challenge austerity in Greece
Half a million struggling young Greeks have now migrated, with thousands more leaving every week.
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How millions are turning to “digital plastic surgery” in the quest for the perfect selfie
Users of the Facetune app can slim their jaws, enlarge their eyes and plump their lips at the touch of…
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Trump’s indulgence of ultra-hawks and torture apologists is turning the US into a rogue state
Is it any wonder that approval ratings for the President and the United States are in freefall across the…
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Remainers attacking the BBC should be wary of ending up with a British Fox News
The United States is now a democracy in which there are no shared facts and are only disputed opinions.
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In the Belfast rape trial, I’m haunted by the man who couldn’t stand up to his friends
How the trial of four rugby players exposed a deep seam of misogyny.
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Viv Albertine’s Diary: The lure of concrete and the love of daughters
The former Slits band member finds joy in what Camden council once failed to appreciate: the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate.
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This Passover has presented an uneasy dilemma for Britain’s left-wing Jews
How is this Labour leader different from all other Labour leaders?
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Andrew Lansley’s discredited health reforms, Wilde’s mass appeal and why hell must exist
Former health secretary Lansley overlooked his £1.5bn “costly diversion” as he criticised later cuts to the NHS.
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Leader: Labour must purge itself of bigots and racists before confronting others’ prejudice
The party leadership’s handling of the scourge of anti-Semitism has consistently fallen short.
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