Enlightenment without end
If we no longer seek virtue and salvation, we should blame the triumvirate of Machiavelli, Hobbes and Adam Smith.
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Revenge of the nation state
Notes for a Poem About Love
A new poem by Janet Murray.
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The Banana Republic of Boris Johnson
Britain looks down on nations ruled by dictators and corrupt demagogues. But in Johnson we have a charlatan of…
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Dark-hearted dreamer: the double life of Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame charmed readers with The Wind in the Willows – but his personal life left tragedy in its…
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Revenge of the nation state
States such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and China are showing a brazen disregard for the rules-based international order.
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Gandhi’s fatal flaws
In the #MeToo era, a new biography examines the Indian leader’s strange relationships with women.
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Arron Banks bought Brexit. But in doing so, did he also break the law?
The National Crime Agency is to investigate Banks over suspicions that he was “not the true source” of his…
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Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife is a pleasingly weird modern take on Beowulf
The novel is not a retelling of that great old tale, but rather a playful reconsideration, an invitation to…
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So long, Diet Coke: How LaCroix conquered America’s fizzy drinks market
The rise of the flavoured sparkling water has been aided by increasing health-consciousness across the US.
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Paul Dano’s Wildlife is a portrait of a loving family experiencing a major breakdown
At times thematically heavy-handed, but nevertheless atmospheric, the film’s scaffolding is its three expansive central performances.
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Eroticism in black and white: the drawings of Klimt and Schiele
A new exhibition highlights the great difference between the two artists’ drawings: Klimt’s tend to be observations, Schiele’s are…
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The afterlife of Rosa Luxemburg: how the German Marxist’s influence endures
A hundred years after her murder, Luxemburg’s most vital insight remains that socialism and democracy are nothing without each other.
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A small cast is telling a big story in the stage adaptation of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth
Plus: Royal Court’s ear for eye.
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Commons Confidential: Parliament’s battle of the bottle
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Inspired by Scotland, Catalonia and especially Brexit, some in California want to go it alone
Membership of independence group “Yes California” increased by 400 per cent in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.
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Louis Theroux’s Altered States asks: can polyamory really make couples happier?
Monogamy is difficult; desire waxes and wanes. Is “ethical non-monogamy” the answer?
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Steve McQueen’s Widows is a deft, intelligent female heist flick
There isn’t much that Widows doesn’t do right or radically.
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A small miracle of the App Age: I entrusted my children to a stranger – and they loved it
We knew her name, the number of times her services had been engaged, and of a few short testimonials,…
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BBC Sounds makes one thing clear: podcasting is the corporation’s future
The new app replacing iPlayer Radio pushes the network’s podcasts to an exponentially growing audience.
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The BBC faces a cash crisis just as live viewing of its terrestrial channels is falling off a cliff
The villain of the piece is, of course, George Osborne – and it should be counted as part of his…
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Paul Dacre’s attack on me was myopic, insular, incoherently angry and a bit Steve Bannon
The former Mail editor was a big beast of a Fleet Street that no longer exists. The very thought must make…
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Funny, unkind, provocative: please don’t make me have an opinion on Germaine Greer
Why are we so unable to deal with female intellectuals as complicated humans?
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Paul Johnson’s 90th birthday, health tips for Churchill and swapping jigsaws with Attlee
Paul’s memories are amazing, if erratic. He instantly recalls the first Catholic lord mayor, exchanges with several US presidents…
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Why Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell aren’t bothered by stories of a rift between them
The reality is that the Labour leader is not a soft touch and the shadow chancellor is not haunted…
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First Thoughts: golden handcuffs at the Mail, the Condorcet solution to Brexit and the risks of a late death
A second referendum using a voting method that nobody understands would be a fitting end to the whole Brexit farce.
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Letter of the Week: Let Leicester mourn in peace
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
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Leader: The trouble with Remainia
Too many EU supporters are displaying the arrogance that led to defeat in the 2016 referendum.
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Watching the mudskipper, with its periscope eyes, is like looking back to when life first emerged from the water
These strangely beguiling amphibious fish are fascinating for reasons that are hard to spell out.
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It’s going to have to be the SNP, if I’m still in Scotland the next time there’s an election
I wasn’t pro-independence when there was a referendum on it, but now I’m here I begin to see the…
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I never expected to be in the index of the greatest spy story of the Cold War. But there I am
As the KGB man tries to flee through a Moscow station, he is thwarted by crowds on their way to…
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Every week 12 young people die from sudden cardiac death. Is it time to start screening runners?
An estimated one in 300 of the general population has an underlying heart condition predisposing them to SCD.
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John Cooper Clarke Q&A: “Happiness is the one target you only have to aim at to miss“
The poet talks press freedom, Elvis Presley and The Simpsons.
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