Matrons and murderers: the blood-thirsty women of Rome
The women of Rome’s imperial family matched the men for ruthlessness, but their reward was ingratitude rather than power.
By
The return of fascism
Sally Rooney on sex, power and the art of being normal
The 27-year-old Booker-nominated author, hailed as the voice of millennial fiction, discusses the success of her second novel, Normal…
By
What Steve Bannon really believes in
A clash with the New Yorker magazine has led to Trump’s former strategy chief being called a fascist. But what…
By
How the Syrian civil war has mutated again
As Assad sets his sights on Idlib province, the stage is set for one of the fiercest confrontations so…
By
US gun owners are holding the country hostage – and I fear for my family’s safety
I now refuse to sound my horn at a reckless driver. What if he pulls a gun?
By
The dark European stain: how the far right rose again
Faced with Trump and populist nationalism, liberals are quick to proclaim the return of fascism. But other disturbing historical…
By
It’s worth celebrating when tech brings us together – even if that technology is a pub app
Dennis had always had a big appetite, but that night it was really put to the test.
By
Christopher Meyer’s Diary: Surviving major trauma and stealing John McCain’s jokes
I found myself lying in a bruised and bloody state on a platform at Victoria Underground station – with…
By
Shaun Prescott’s debut The Town: gripping Australian existentialism
The novel explores microcosmic Australia reduced to a town so drab it has no name.
By
The BBC’s Bodyguard reveals the most intimate relationship in politics
As in Jed Mercurio’s TV depiction, bodyguards aren’t always on the sidelines – affairs, close relationships and tensions with ministers…
By
How the Gulf’s petrodollars lubricate the British economy
Why it matters that money from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates weighs heavily and invisibly on…
By
Until we realise the need for a new economic model, we risk another financial crash
A decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, we must confront the vested interests that have captured policymaking.
By
Anthony Burgess’s boundless curiosity
Burgess saw journalism as a way writers could augment their income, publish to a large readership between books, and…
By
Ian Kershaw: “Brexit would be the greatest act of national self-harm in postwar history”
The pre-eminent historian of Nazi Germany, and the author of Roller-Coaster, on the new dangers facing Europe.
By
Andrew Miller’s eighth novel is an exploration of culpability, written in singing prose
Now We Shall Be Entirely Free secures Miller’s his track record as a highly distinguished novelist.
By
Sergio De La Pava’s Lost Empress is a sprawling novel of American football and crime
Entertaining and fun for the literary-minded, this is a work of canny satire.
By
Myers-Briggs: how a sham questionnaire became the world’s most popular personality test
A new book reveals how the private obsessions of a mother and daughter launched a global movement.
By
Why Sweden is turning right after decades of centrist politics
Much of the country is a very long way from the earthly paradise the Social Democrats once seemed to…
By
After a decade of revolution, can we now call video games art?
Reassessing the form after ten years in which games both broke into the mainstream and became increasingly experimental.
By
BBC Two’s Trust is everything a ten-part series about badly behaved rich people should be
This story of John Paul Getty is silly, salacious and yet deadly serious.
By
Letter of the week: Travelling light
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
By
Hatton Garden heist flick King of Thieves is more than just laddish larks
Starring Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone and Paul Whitehouse, this film mixes steely menace and jolly…
By
Alastair Cook’s last ever Test innings causes fraught nerves on Test Match Special
Aggers grumbled about the inexplicably slow Oval scoreboard and Michael Vaughan kept saying the word tense.
By
She said Hector was dreaming of rabbits – but how can we know what animals see in sleep?
Nose twitching, tail thumping, he could have been in a wild hunt through snowy woods or a puppyhood memory that we’d…
By
Dilemma: do I go down to London to be pounded into jelly by Rod Liddle?
Gentle reader, forgive me for going on about this man again. But it helps me to feel part of…
By
The left are now more forgiving of Ed Miliband – but many Labour MPs are furious with him
It was poignant sitting opposite the man whose ambition it had been to remake capitalism for an age of austerity.
By
I’ve always taken a somewhat DIY approach to both my music and my hair
My beginnings were as independent as you can get: if you sent a postal order to my home address,…
By
Who will last longer, Theresa May or José Mourinho? I consult the history books for answers
We’re repeatedly told that their days are numbered. But will it be this season, before Christmas? Next year? Tomorrow?
By
How Geordie Greig seems to have called time on the Daily Mail’s characteristic fury
No traitors, saboteurs or enemies of the people are to be seen in new editor’s pages.
By
Esi Edugyan Q&A: I like the here and now, despite the obvious chaos“
The writer talks Mad Men, Heather Ann Thompson’s Blood in the Water, and Harriet the Spy.
By
Leader: How Uefa’s complex new Nations League baffles fans and players alike
More than a game, Harry.
By
Leader: Ten years on from the financial crash, Britain’s economic model remains broken
For Britain, the sixth largest economy in the world, austerity has always been a choice, rather than a necessity.
By