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Over 8,000 meningitis vaccines handed out in Kent as queues improve over weekend

Some 23 cases have been confirmed alongside 11 that ‘remain under investigation’, the UK Health Security Agency said. More than 8,000 meningitis B vaccines have been handed out since the…

Iran’s long-range missiles can reach European cities, Israel warns

Scottish Government appoints group to create memorial for Queen Elizabeth II

Reform treasurer ‘met sanctioned individuals on Nicaragua trip’

Hundreds march through London to protest against US and Israeli attacks on Iran

Irish border will feature in EU–UK ‘reset’ if Reform wins power, MP says

Yvette Cooper condemns ‘reckless’ Iranian strikes on Diego Garcia

Sarah Michelle Gellar pays tribute to Buffy co-star Nicholas Brendon

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Sonia Sodha

Breaking the class ceiling

Aspiration and social mobility were at the heart of Tony Blair’s “education, education, education” pitch in 1997. They are similarly echoed in Keir Starmer’s vision for Britain: he has repeatedly framed his desire to be…

Simon Heffer

An age without rival

It wasn’t long before Hallowe’en that I noted many of the significant women in my life – including my wife and the editrix of this august publication – were devoting…

Michael Janofsky

Long division

Our good friend Kalyan, a gay Indian-American, was so distraught by rising discrimination against Blacks,…

Peter Lawlor

Creative destruction

According to a quip once made by Peter Ustinov, “Just before the world blows itself…

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

As headlines veer toward the apocalyptic – from collapsing ecosystems to vanishing species – it’s…

Kate Devlin

You’re on camera

There’s a quotation by American historian Timothy Snyder currently circulating on social media. It comes…

Sam Fowles

Posh performance

I recently wrote a column for The National that provoked some, let’s say, passionate reactions. Two…

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For some of the world’s best independent writing on the stories and ideas shaping our world

COMMENT

Sonia Sodha

The pitfalls of assisted dying

One of the first concepts new students of philosophy are…

Simon Heffer

Why Labour has to be conservative

Here’s a paradox for you: Britain is a conservative country…

Mic Wright

High society

In 1989, Richard Hoggart wrote in his introduction to George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan…

Michael Janofsky

America’s third man

With all the focus on Joe Biden-Donald Trump redux, it’s easy to ignore more than…

Keiran Goddard

Falling better

The only thing slower than writing books, it seems, is publishing them. The mechanisms of…

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Perspectives

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Free as a bird

Keggie Carew

A meditation on our complex relationship with wildness

Xi the Peacemaker

Michael Burleigh

China’s diplomatic manoeuvring wrong-foots the West

Living on cloud wine

Nick Cohen

Our society's cavalier attitude towards alcoholism

#MeToo returns

Charlotte Proudman

New high-profile cases expose deep-rooted misogyny

Perspectives

Snob value

Philip Hensher

Looking down your nose at “common” behaviour can create a constructive social dynamic

Living on cloud wine

Nick Cohen

Our society's cavalier attitude towards alcoholism

Xi the Peacemaker

Michael Burleigh

China’s diplomatic manoeuvring wrong-foots the West

The colder war

Chris Lincoln-Jones

AI weaponry has already made sci-fi a reality, so the big question is: can we control the machines?

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PEOPLE

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TCE The Interview The Interview – Front Page

BY

Joanna Grochowicz

Charles Spencer

The writer, historian, podcaster and 9th Earl Spencer Charles Spencer talks about boarding school trauma, class aspirations and the importance of speaking out

In Conversation In Conversation – Front Page TCE

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Joanna Grochowicz

Michael Palin

Talks about his new volume of diaries, his support for the Prison Reform Trust, the loss of his wife Helen, and his determination to keep travelling in his 80s

Reputations Reputations – Front Page

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Lucy Ward

Catherine the Great

The enlightened empress who inoculated herself to protect her subjects and advance science

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

Rosie Holt

Comedian and actress

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Michael Holding

Former West Indies Test cricketer and Sky Sports commentator

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet newspaper

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Wynne Evans

Opera singer and radio presenter

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

Benny Higgins

Banker

Ed Balls

Economist, broadcaster and former cabinet minister

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Katie Brand

Award-winning writer and comedian

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Lynn Barber

author and journalist

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Lucy Easthope

Disaster planner and recovery expert

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

Jeremy Bowen

International Editor of BBC News

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Bobby Seagull

Maths teacher, author and TV broadcaster

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Kate Mosse

Author and founder of the Women’s Prize

Sally Phillips

The much-loved UK actress on comedy, faith, disability and Christmas

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CULTURE

MORE AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Author Interview – Front Page The author Interview

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Helen Brown

“The current generation don’t seem to be using their power for much more than shooting penis-shaped rockets into outer space”

Naomi Alderman

The novelist, gamer and Bailey Women’s Prize winner discusses tech billionaires, apocalypse bunkers, her fans Obama and Gates, and her new book The Future

Mary Beard

The classicist, Cambridge don and trustee of the British Museum discusses flamingo-brain feasts, gender surgery in antiquity and her new book Emperor of Rome

Cathy Newman

Channel 4’s first female news anchor discusses trailblazing women, internet trolls, sexual assault and her new book The Ladder

Sarah Hall

The acclaimed novelist discusses her Goldsmiths Prize-shortlisted novel Helm, writing a "strange biography" of Britain's only named wind, climate collapse and "radical optimism," and why sorority is the key to consolidating power shifts and positive change

FEATURES

Zealots not harlots

Elizabeth Sharkey

How Quaker dissenters became England’s first feminists

Gothic delights

Elizabeth Sharkey

Exploring the history of a genre that first bewitched Elizabeth as a teenage Joy Division fan

FILM

Playing through the nose

Anne Billson

STYLE

Tribal fashion

Christobel Kent

POETRY

Tight Little Island by Rishi Dastidar

I Am Waiting For You by Risalet Merdan

Hermeneutics by Rebecca Hurst

Things to Consider in the Design of Your First Space Suit by Harry Man

Blood Moon by Gillian Clarke

ART

Digital art merits attention

Max Lunn

MUSIC

Rock and Rigoletto

Laura Barton

CULTURE

Author Interview – Front Page TCE The author Interview

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Helen Brown

“It is a religion that asks women to have many children and really sacrifice their bodies”

Hanna Pylväinen

Whiting Award and Balcones Fiction Prize-winner discusses her strict Lutheran upbringing and her novel The End of Drum-Time

Tessa Hadley

The critically acclaimed novelist discusses her 1950s-set novella The Party with Helen Brown

Ruth Ivo

The former burlesque dancer discusses her fictionalised memoir of Soho life in Performance, the exhilarating freedom of club nights in her youth and “hatching” from an egg on stage