World War Two
Putin’s cult of war
This idolisation of the Soviet military is Russia’s modern tragedy. Not least because it is crucial to Putin’s way of…
The rise and fall of the yakuza
For the first time in history, an organised crime ‘yakuza’ boss has been sentenced to death in a Japanese court.…
How crises shape government
Crises often exhaust the capacity of governments to renew themselves. All consuming problems do not allow prime ministers to have…
Why teaching the Holocaust still matters
Pretzsch is a normal small town on the River Elbe, 35 miles north east of Leipzig, with little or nothing…
Why face masks weren’t compulsory during WW2
Britain has been here before when it comes to furores about face masks. Exactly 80 years ago the same argument…
Pigeons are the solution to the statue controversy
Will nobody think of the pigeons? That thought has repeatedly occurred to me, as beloved roosts for generations of urban…
Trump’s German troop withdrawal will hurt America
Tensions between Germany and the United States have increased considerably since Donald Trump became President. Trump has repeatedly criticized Berlin…
Does COVID-19 mean socialism or social collapse?
Inequality is the price we pay for civilization. Property rights, inheritance customs and unequal gains from technological innovation have long…
Will Japan ban its 'offensive' Rising Sun flag at the Tokyo Olympics?
Ant and Dec have done most things in their long careers in light entertainment. But the versatile duo broke new…
War of the Worlds is as bad as Doctor Who
Edwardian England deserved everything it got from those killer Martian invaders. Or so I learned from the BBC’s latest adaptation…
Dispatch from Pegasus Bridge, Normandy
Pegasus Bridge, Normandy We’re taking morning coffee at the Café Gondrée, which skirts the bridge. It still belongs to…
Was there pleasure at Passchendaele?
At ten to eleven we filed outside the church and assembled in the graveyard around a small cenotaph commemorating the…
Twenty things I will ban when I am elected your Dictator For Life in 2016
The two things I hate most about Christmas are a) Advertland showing me how sparkly and joyous my home and…
Shirley Williams: Saving my mother from the scriptwriters
Jasper Rees talks to Shirley Williams about the forthcoming screen portrayal of her mother
