How Britain lost control

There is a foul panorama of violence blaring from our screens

It is a radicalising, deforming vision of a world which appears on the edge

Who’s normal enough for Makerfield?

Andy Burnham is relying on his accent, and his taste for meat pie

The guardian angels of the Thames

On patrol with the RNLI, along London’s sacred river

In China, you can barely move for pandas

I cannot emphasise enough how this black-and-white bear appears to have taken over the entire state

Keir Starmer has a people problem

He seems to lack the basic social skills necessary for survival

Letter of the week: Listing to starboard?

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Meet Andy Burnham’s northern queens

Once sidelined by Starmer, Louise Haigh and Anneliese Midgley are major players behind the scenes

Kim Jong Un is enjoying his new nuclear power

North Korea’s leader is the quiet winner of our age of instability

What did the Black Death ever do for us?

A history of the Black Death overlooks its more surprising developments

The myth of English insularity

Tudor and Stuart England was more a porous nation than a sceptred isle

Living with and without Paul Auster

Siri Hustvedt’s reflections on the death of her husband offer a wise meditation on grief and its many mutations

England is in a state

Amanda Craig’s new novel offers a snapshot of a society reeling from insecurity and division

Canada's World Cup superfans are betting savings, sleep and sanity on a home tournament

In a newly released game, 007 drives a hybrid Aston Martin and has to be taught to tie a…

Disclosure Day’s earnest hokum

Steven Spielberg’s return to extraterrestrials is as brilliantly filmed as anything he has made

The kids who want to be Kardashians

Who wants to be famous for being famous for being famous?

Shut up and drive

Who’s got the best wheels in Westminster?

New York: do Americans cook better than Italians?

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of gastro-nationalism

Beer and sandwiches: At the Ring O’Bells in Frodsham

This column is our weekly pub review, written by pintsmen, women and children across the nation. Suggestions to [email protected]

Westminster’s WhatsApp deletion drive

Future political historians will have to dig for messages that evaded the automatic cull

This might be my last World Cup

I dread hearing the words “England friendly”

How to live without a fridge

It’s all fine – until summer comes

February 2000: Can football’s soul survive hooliganism, capital, and literature?