Personal Story: My mother’s last words
I often wonder if my novels would be different if she was still alive. If her voice was still…
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The age of pandemics
Coronavirus and the geopolitics of disease
After the 1918 flu outbreak killed 50 million, nations created new organisations to fight infection. But in an age of…
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Al-Muhajiroun and the long tail of UK terror
The murder of two young people on London Bridge last year was the latest atrocity by a follower of…
ByThe noise of time
The British Library Sound Archive preserves millions of audio recordings for future generations. But what does the past sound…
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The light and shade of Steve McQueen
A major retrospective of the artist and director’s work reveals a master of the uncanny.
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WeCrashed: the podcast that explores WeWork’s rise and fall
This isn’t a close analysis of WeWork’s financial problems. It’s far sillier. The best moments are pure colour.
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Jessica Hausner’s Little Joe: haunting and impressive
This film about anti-depressive plants has an atmosphere of horticultural dread.
By
The joy of BBC Sound’s US podcast Americast
Americast is completely addictive for its on-the-ground details of the campaign trail.
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Sarah Phelps’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation is more cartoonish than chilling
For all its spills and thrills and delightful cameo performances, I felt distracted and a little bored.
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Tom Stoppard’s new play Leopoldstadt is inseparable from its author’s biography
There is no separating the artist and the art in Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, which draws directly on his life as…
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Kraftwerk’s music for a Europe without end
Born out of Germany’s industrial heartland, Kraftwerk’s epic electronic pop did not just soundtrack a decade: it created a…
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Colum McCann’s Apeirogon: an ambitious work of “documentary fiction”
This novel based in fact spans the divide of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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People Like Us: A journey through “social mobility” from child asylum seeker to barrister
When Hashi Mohamed arrived in the UK at nine years old, he was an unaccompanied minor who couldn’t speak…
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Perfectly Good Legs
A new poem by Will Eaves.
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Heather Christle’s The Crying Book: a cultural history of tears
Like other poets who write non-fiction, Christle favours a fragmentary style in this history of crying.
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Letter of the week: Will Sinn Féin cross a line?
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 forgotten Syrian tragedy
The malevolent swagger of the Assad regime is the consequence of grievous Western policy errors.
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First Thoughts: Taming the Treasury, the BBC licence fee and the demise of the Daily Telegraph
Some of the biggest policy blunders of the past 250 years can be blamed on Whitehall’s dominant department.
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Why Essex is England’s most misunderstood county
Gillian Darley on snobbery and the many landscapes of London’s neighbour.
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Commons Confidential: Lindsay Hoyle’s most solemn duty
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Why the coronavirus presents a global political danger
The epidemic is a canvas on to which people’s deepest fears and prejudices are being projected.
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Caroline Flack’s death shows that being a famous woman remains a health hazard
Among all of her television success, Flack was known for one thing: being a public punching bag.
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How Sheffield United, a starless team from another age, gatecrashed the top six
I do like to see ‘umble, ordinary northern clubs doing well.
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Like any food writer, I’m only too aware of how images are used to sell dreams as well as dinner
Take the one-star Amazon review of one of my books: “I’m sure the recipes are perfectly useable but as…
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Taylor Swift personifies the internal battle so many of us fight: Bad Girl vs Good Girl
In new Netflix documentary Miss Americana, we watch Swift’s need to please people build up, both motivating and sometimes crushing her.
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The recent storms made me anxious – reminding me of how close I once came to death
If I had stayed one more night in that flat, I would have died.
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Barbara Stocking Q&A: “Anything is possible if you are educated“
The former Oxfam CEO talks Michelle Obama, Divided: Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls and life lessons from…
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Manchester City, the model of a global super-club, once struggled to be noticed, never mind banned
The club has never quite managed to shed the rags of restless victimhood.
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Boris Johnson does have a vision but is misunderstood
The government has some big ideas, but its purpose is the re-establishment of democracy and the creation of the…
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I’m learning how to actively confront my past – instead of being bombarded by Facebook Memories
Suddenly seeing an outdated version of ourselves makes remembrance uncanny, and often painful
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Julian Smith’s Diary: The day I was sacked from the cabinet, and helping Northern Ireland escape its past
Northern Ireland has a bright future, but it needs an inclusive, responsive vision for the Union that offers real benefits, as well as some…
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Michael Bloomberg’s mega-buck presidential campaign is not the solution to US dysfunction
The former New York mayor would resurrect a failed policy settlement and merely fiddle with the symptoms of inequality.
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Boris Johnson may end up defined by his Henry VIII-style search for the perfect chancellor
Contrary to public perception, Rishi Sunak is not Johnson’s second choice for chancellor, but his third.
By Manchester City, the model of a global super-club, once struggled to be noticed, never mind banned
The club has never quite managed to shed the rags of restless victimhood.
By Boris Johnson does have a vision but is misunderstood
The government has some big ideas, but its purpose is the re-establishment of democracy and the creation of the…
By I’m learning how to actively confront my past – instead of being bombarded by Facebook Memories
Suddenly seeing an outdated version of ourselves makes remembrance uncanny, and often painful
By Julian Smith’s Diary: The day I was sacked from the cabinet, and helping Northern Ireland escape its past
Northern Ireland has a bright future, but it needs an inclusive, responsive vision for the Union that offers real benefits, as well as some…
By Caroline Flack’s death shows that being a famous woman remains a health hazard
Among all of her television success, Flack was known for one thing: being a public punching bag.
By WeCrashed: the podcast that explores WeWork’s rise and fall
This isn’t a close analysis of WeWork’s financial problems. It’s far sillier. The best moments are pure colour.
By First Thoughts: Taming the Treasury, the BBC licence fee and the demise of the Daily Telegraph
Some of the biggest policy blunders of the past 250 years can be blamed on Whitehall’s dominant department.
By Why Essex is England’s most misunderstood county
Gillian Darley on snobbery and the many landscapes of London’s neighbour.
By Heather Christle’s The Crying Book: a cultural history of tears
Like other poets who write non-fiction, Christle favours a fragmentary style in this history of crying.
By Perfectly Good Legs
A new poem by Will Eaves.
By Commons Confidential: Lindsay Hoyle’s most solemn duty
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By Why the coronavirus presents a global political danger
The epidemic is a canvas on to which people’s deepest fears and prejudices are being projected.
By People Like Us: A journey through “social mobility” from child asylum seeker to barrister
When Hashi Mohamed arrived in the UK at nine years old, he was an unaccompanied minor who couldn’t speak…
By Letter of the week: Will Sinn Féin cross a line?
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
By Jessica Hausner’s Little Joe: haunting and impressive
This film about anti-depressive plants has an atmosphere of horticultural dread.
By Sarah Phelps’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation is more cartoonish than chilling
For all its spills and thrills and delightful cameo performances, I felt distracted and a little bored.
By Michael Bloomberg’s mega-buck presidential campaign is not the solution to US dysfunction
The former New York mayor would resurrect a failed policy settlement and merely fiddle with the symptoms of inequality.
By The joy of BBC Sound’s US podcast Americast
Americast is completely addictive for its on-the-ground details of the campaign trail.
By Boris Johnson may end up defined by his Henry VIII-style search for the perfect chancellor
Contrary to public perception, Rishi Sunak is not Johnson’s second choice for chancellor, but his third.
By Leader: The forgotten Syrian tragedy
The malevolent swagger of the Assad regime is the consequence of grievous Western policy errors.
By Like any food writer, I’m only too aware of how images are used to sell dreams as well as dinner
Take the one-star Amazon review of one of my books: “I’m sure the recipes are perfectly useable but as…
By Taylor Swift personifies the internal battle so many of us fight: Bad Girl vs Good Girl
In new Netflix documentary Miss Americana, we watch Swift’s need to please people build up, both motivating and sometimes crushing her.
By The recent storms made me anxious – reminding me of how close I once came to death
If I had stayed one more night in that flat, I would have died.
By How Sheffield United, a starless team from another age, gatecrashed the top six
I do like to see ‘umble, ordinary northern clubs doing well.
By Barbara Stocking Q&A: “Anything is possible if you are educated“
The former Oxfam CEO talks Michelle Obama, Divided: Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls and life lessons from…
By Tom Stoppard’s new play Leopoldstadt is inseparable from its author’s biography
There is no separating the artist and the art in Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, which draws directly on his life as…
By