Romania
Why there’s rioting in Leeds
As something of a fan of riots and social unrest I was interested to know who, precisely, had gone doolally…
What Britain can learn from Romania
What Britain can learn from Romania
'Collective' shines a light on Romania's deadly corruption problem
A gripping Romanian documentary has made history as the country’s first film ever to be nominated for an Oscar in…
It’ll blow you away: Collective reviewed
When I recommend this documentary to people, telling them it follows the journalistic investigation into a fire that broke out…
Face time
The inimitably pukka voice of Jacob Rees-Mogg echoed through Radio 4 on Thursday morning. He was not, though, talking about…
Is the Slender-billed curlew already extinct?
This unusual book is beautifully written, produced and illustrated, but its subject — the small Slender-billed curlew — is strangely…
Portrait of the week
Home The all-party Foreign Affairs Committee urged David Cameron, the Prime Minister, not to press ahead with a Commons vote…
Bartók would have made history even if he’d never composed a note
‘All my life, always and in every way, I shall have one objective: the good of Hungary and the Hungarian…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said: ‘Red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global…
Actually, Bob, they do know it’s Christmas (we checked)
Yeah, Bob, they know The answer to the rhetorical question posed by the Band Aid single, ‘Do they know it’s…
Go east – the people get nicer, even if their dogs get nastier
When Nick Hunt first read Patrick Leigh Fermor’s account of his youthful trudge across Europe in A Time of Gifts…
Ed Miliband's immigration nightmare
Victor Spirescu came to Britain last week looking for work washing cars, but seems to have landed himself with a…
The long and winding story of the Danube
For much of its history the Danube has been a disappointment. It looks so tempting on the map but, far…
Portrait of the week
Home George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that average energy bills would be brought £50 lower through government…
Transylvania Diary by Thomas W. Hodgkinson - diary
Ehe-Gefängnis. The word, strictly speaking (which is how one should always speak), means ‘marriage prison’, and refers to an austere…
The Broken Road, by Patrick Leigh Fermor - review
Sound the trumpets. Let rip the Byzantine chorus of clattering bells and gongs, the thunder of cannons, drums and flashing…
Broken dreams
Oliver Balch 8 July 2023 9:00 am
Interviewing the Continent’s refugees and poorest rural inhabitants, Ben Judah reveals a world far removed from Brussels politics or Eurovision optimism