On the road with Danny Lyon
The celebrated photojournalist describes his peripatetic youth recording revolution in Haiti, hunger and homelessness in Mexico and the civil rights movement in the US
Caught in a Venus flytrap: Red Pyramid, by Vladimir Sorokin, reviewed
Sorokin’s satirical stories are not for the fainthearted, but there are few more dedicated critics of Russia's infinite bureaucracy writing fiction today
Resolute, dignified and intelligent: Elizabeth II inspired loyalty from the start
Alexander Larman describes how, from 1945 onwards, the House of Windsor set about rebranding itself after a decade of crisis both internal and external
The world’s largest flower is also its ugliest
Known as ‘corpse flower’, the sinister Rafflesia resembles slabs of bloody, white-flecked meat, emits the scent of rotting flesh and eventually subsides into a mass of black slime
How country living changed the lives of three remarkable women writers
Harriet Baker describes how Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann found new forms of peace and creativity away from the stifling capital
Why Labour is 99 per cent likely to form the next government
Academic conferences – even ones about politics – rarely make the news. This week’s annual conference of UK political scientists…
Who will take responsibility for our appalling prisons?
We know our prison system is awash with drugs but just what are they smoking at the Ministry of Justice?…
South Australian Voice flops with abysmal 8.7 per cent turnout
The South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament, legislated by the Malinauskas state Labor government, has flopped ignominiously. This follows…
There’s nothing conservative about the Tories’ free childcare rollout
On Monday, the UK welfare state will expand to cover 15 hours of free childcare for working parents with two-year-olds.…
A nuanced view of the nuclear option
Matthew Warren brings a refreshingly nuanced view to the acrimonious nuclear power debate because he knows enough about electricity generation…
Why I used to hate Good Friday
If you’re of a certain age and you were brought up Catholic, you’ll remember ‘Good Friday’ as the most awful…
How to stop illegal immigration from Afghanistan
Spring is here. For Afghanistan that means more violence by the Taliban and other terrorists – and more refugees leaving…
The French want weed, not wine
Across France this Easter families will gather to eat, drink and, in many cases, smoke drugs. There are five million…
Our new 21st Century virtues
What are the weapons of choice employed by Culture War activists? Emotions and accusations certainly, but also, more subtly perhaps,…
Where have the West’s liberal values gone?
Russia is ramping up preparations for a ‘large-scale’ war with Nato. That’s the verdict of the Washington-based Institute for the…
The problem with Japan’s economy
Japan’s increase of its interest rates to being from negative to positive for the first time in 17 years was…
Who would trust Holyrood with legalising euthanasia?
Would you trust this lot with assisted dying? The Scottish parliament’s record on issues of personal liberty has been pretty…
Barristers should be allowed to join the Garrick
The Garrick Club affair has taken a new and slightly worrying twist, this time courtesy of – of all bodies…
When the gender debate doesn’t belong in the classroom
Kevin Lister has lost his case at an employment tribunal in Bristol. I am not surprised. The former maths teacher…
When will Prince Harry stop punishing British taxpayers?
Wherever you go in the world, there are always two things that are never cheap: lobsters and lawyers. The British…
Joe Lieberman RIP: a voice of reason in a fractious age
It is impossible for me to think of an American in politics who lived a life as full of hope as…
Double Shot S2E7 The fallout from the Tasmanian election – Eric Abetz, Dave Pellowe, James Allan
Newly elected Eric Abetz joins us to discuss what the future of Tasmanian politics will look like as the Coalition…
Thames Water proves privatisation has failed
Why do the Conservatives find it so difficult to admit that the privatisation of public utilities has in many cases…
The UK’s economic problems are far bigger than a ‘recession’
It was extremely optimistic to think the UK could revise its way out of recession. After the Office for National…
Germany’s Holocaust dilemma
‘In 2024, Jewish money is once again being confiscated by a German bank’. This is a headline that makes for uncomfortable reading…
