Reluctant servant of the Raj: Burma Sahib, by Paul Theroux, reviewed
Few personal details survive about Eric Blair’s life as a policeman in Burma, making his years in the East fertile ground for the novelist
Four dangerous visionary writers
Simon Ings examines the lives of Maxim Gorky, Maurice Barrès, Gabriele D’Annunzio and Ding Ling, whose propagandism helped shape – and misshape – the 20th century
A mother-daughter love story
In her latest memoir, Leslie Jamison describes her pregnancy, experience of childbirth and devotion to her baby, returning repeatedly to the dilemmas of a working mother
The firebrand preacher who put Martin Luther in the shade
Andrew Drummond traces the short, turbulent career of Thomas Müntzer, the rabble-rousing revolutionary behind the peasants’ uprising in 1520s Germany
Flaubert, snow, poverty, rhythm … the random musings of Anne Carson
It is thrillingly difficult to keep one’s balance in Carson’s topsy-turvy world as she meditates on a wide range of subjects in poetry, pictures and prose
After Queen Victoria, the flood
Alwyn Turner draws on popular culture to show how violent protest and unrest followed the old queen’s death, making nonsense of the fabled Edwardian ‘golden summer’
What do we mean when we say we are ‘giving up’?
Adam Phillips explores the various implications of the phrase, contrasting giving up smoking or alcohol with giving up hope – and being given up on
Lord Byron had many faults, but writing dull letters wasn’t one of them
Andrew Stauffer traces the poet’s tumultuous life through some of the most remarkable missives in the English language
Could AI ruin the election?
The artificial intelligence space is strange. Significantly overfunded, overhyped and overcovered — in part because AI can easily produce bad,…
It gets worse and worse for Rishi Sunak
Sixteen months ago Rishi Sunak was installed as Conservative leader and prime minister in the hope that he would be…
Hope for Russia has died with Navalny
It was brave. It was foolhardy. It was almost unbelievable. After his near-fatal poisoning by the Russian Federal Security Service,…
Could Harry become an American citizen?
If I was the producer of Good Morning America, I would feel disappointed by today’s appearance of Prince Harry on…
‘Article Pfizer’ – France to punish criticism of mRNA vaccines
France, the nation that likes to boast about its approach to liberty and free speech, has passed a law through…
Wikipedia: how safe is crowdsourcing the truth?
Have you ever wondered what feeds your internet search results on Google, Yahoo, or Bing? What about question-answering systems such…
The tragedy of Alexei Navalny
I knew and greatly respected Alexei Navalny. The news (as yet not independently confirmed) that he died in prison came…
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison
Just over three years after he was imprisoned in Russia, the Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died. The news was…
Will the Ukrainian army retreat from Avdiivka?
The battle for Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast is a bloodbath. The city, which is also called the ‘gateway to Donetsk’,…
Shoppers are falling out of love with online shopping
Maybe the Office for National Statistics should stop seasonally adjusting its data. That is the lesson from today’s retail sales figures,…
The Tories should be worried about Reform
And with one bound he was free. In fact let’s make that two. A pair of whopping by-election wins in…
After last night Sunak is heading for electoral wipeout
And so Keir Starmer’s bad week comes to an end, just like that. Labour has won two by-elections in a…
The master manipulator
Let’s be clear. Tucker Carlson didn’t interview Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin addressed Americans through Tucker Carlson. The mainstream media’s horror…
2024 and the invasion at the southern border
Donald Trump crushed the New Hampshire primary, as every poll in Alpha Centauri predicted he would. Nevertheless, his sole remaining…
