Russia
The madness of the Beijing Winter Olympics
Jumping the shark isn’t yet an Olympic sport, but if it were the International Olympic Committee would be a shoo-in…
Welcome to the world of Big Byz
The title of Victor Pelevin’s 2011 novel stands for ‘Special Newsreel/Universal Feature Film’. This product is made by the narrator,…
If Putin comes, the Poles are waiting - a report from Nato's new frontline
Nato’s beefed-up military exercises are impressive – and ominous
Hirohito, MacArthur and other villains
The history of ‘great events’, Voltaire wrote, is ‘hardly more than the history of crimes’. Physically, the war in Asia…
Was Genghis Khan the cruellest man who ever lived?
From the unpromising and desperately unforgiving background that forged his iron will and boundless ambition, Temujin (as Genghis Khan was…
Portrait of the week
Home A Bill to enable a referendum on whether voters wanted Britain to ‘remain’ in the European Union figured in…
Calling all British tourists — Ukraine needs you!
Kiev ‘What the hell’s going to happen to your poor country?’ I ask the man in the flea market not…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, soon got used to the surprise of the Conservatives being returned in the general…
Posh, educated and energetic: meet the servants of the super-rich
There is a huge industry catering to London’s foreign plutocracy
Whose hair are you buying?
British people buy £43 million worth of human hair a year. So who’s selling?
Measure for Measure at the Barbican reviewed: a charity show for homesick non-doms
The smash hit Matilda, based on a Roald Dahl story, has spawned a copycat effort, The Twits. Charm, sweetness and…
Portrait of the week
Home Launching the Conservative party manifesto, David Cameron, the party leader, told voters he wanted to ‘turn the good news…
A Greek default is coming – as soon as next month
Bored with the election? Switch over to the Greek debt drama. In this week’s cliffhanger, silver-tongued finance minister Yanis Varoufakis…
An Indian Bayadère that meets a sludgy end
For an Indian woman to make a dancework about La Bayadère is a promising prospect. This classical ballet of 1877…
The Heckler: why it’s time to kill off James Bond
For fans of the franchise who remain unconvinced by Daniel Craig’s time on her majesty’s secret service, the stories leaking…
Wanted: a party leader willing to talk about defence
In the 1984 US presidential election, Ronald Reagan came up with an effective way of embarrassing his rival Walter Mondale…
It’s Nato that’s empire-building, not Putin
For Nato and the EU as much as for Putin, Ukraine is a question not of virtue but of power and land
Shelling, militiamen and shattered villages: welcome to eastern Ukraine’s ceasefire
Ukraine’s war goes on – in some places now, and soon everywhere
The dos and don’ts of the Russian art scene
They’re doing fantastic deals on five-star hotels in St Petersburg the weekend the Francis Bacon exhibition opens at the Hermitage.…
How Vladimir Putin is waging war on the West – and winning
The Russian President has been trying to draw a new Iron Curtain across Europe
Will the real Swan Lake please stand up
Ismene Brown unpicks the great enigma of ballet theatre
Why Putin is even less of a human than Stalin was
LBC likes to tell us it’s ‘Leading Britain’s Conversation’, though in the case of weekday pre-lunch presenter James O’Brien you’ll…
How Putin turned Russian politics into reality TV
‘We all know there will be no real politics.’ A prominent Russian TV presenter is speaking off the record at…
The prophet Tolstoy and his dodgy vicar
One fine day in June 1896, a lone Russian nihilist visited Leo Tolstoy on his country estate. Come to hear…
Panic, profiteering and a mysterious girl in a Mini: notes from Moscow
Moscow Here we go again. The rouble slides, then tumbles, and slides again. For those of us who remember the…
