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Starmer defends actions of police after criticism over Golders Green arrest

Sir Keir was responding to criticism of officers shared on social media by Green Party leader Zack Polanski. Sir Keir Starmer has defended two police officers from criticism for kicking…

£25,000 reward offered to find stolen historic Glasgow artefact

John Swinney convenes security meeting after terror threat level raised

Jimmy Kimmel responds to Donald Trump’s repeated calls to have him fired

In Pictures: Sun comes out for May Day ahead of bank holiday weekend

The Real Greek to shut nine restaurants and axe 151 jobs after administration

Man charged over car bomb attack outside Dunmurry police station

Woman retains flatpack world title after building bedside table in eight minutes

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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…

Sam Fowles

Posh performance

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

Peter Lawlor

Rent in two

In this class-themed issue I want to touch on an important social distinction in the…

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

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

Sarah Hall

Natural hazards

The first novel that truly affected me as a young reader was eschatological in nature.…

Sam Fowles

Might is not right

The date of 26 January 2024 may become a watershed moment in the history of…

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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

New protest laws would be extreme

Having been bored into a stupor by a supposedly Conservative…

Sally Hayden

War reporter

Cambridge In early September I attended the British Red Cross summer school in international humanitarian…

Sam Fowles

Unfree speech

Free speech is “under threat”, or so we are continually told. Under threat from whom?…

Kate Devlin

You’re on camera

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

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Perspectives

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All that jazz

Lucy Moore

The carefree socialites of the 1920s can teach us how to let our hair down

Deadly game

Nicholas Blincoe

Palestinians have been kicked around for decades – could football have something to teach politicians on every side?

Fake farm story

Joy Lo Dico

Shouldn’t we be doing more for British farmers?

Perspectives

The end of days

Boris Starling

If the apocalypse comes, we will almost certainly have brought it on ourselves

The nostalgia myth

Gavin Esler

The UK’s historical illiteracy has led to delusions that create problems for the future

Les Temps Modernes

Antony Beevor

The Liberation of Paris in August 1944 led to an era of philosophical, political and sexual ferment

My generation’s missing out on the naughties

Róisín Lanigan

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PEOPLE

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The Interview The Interview - Front Page

BY

Lipika Pelham

Zahra Joya

Airlifted to London after the Taliban invasion in 2021, journalist Zahra Joya runs a platform for silenced Afghan women

In Conversation In Conversation - Front Page TCE

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Rowan Pelling

Dominic Cummings

Rowan Pelling talks to Dominic Cummings about a start-up party, Brexit, the covid inquiry, Whitehall and other shit-shows

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

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Wynne Evans

Opera singer and radio presenter

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Jeremy Bowen

International Editor of BBC News

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

Michael Holding

Former West Indies Test cricketer and Sky Sports commentator

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Chris Smith

Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and former Culture Secretary

Lucy Easthope

Disaster planner and recovery expert

Ed Balls

Economist, broadcaster and former cabinet minister

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Vince Cable

Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Secretary of State (2010-2015)

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

Bobby Seagull

Maths teacher, author and TV broadcaster

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

Lynn Barber

author and journalist

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet newspaper

Jeremy Bowen

International Editor of BBC News

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Michael Holding

Former West Indies Test cricketer and Sky Sports commentator

Tom Curry

England Rugby International and Sale Sharks Flanker

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Sally Phillips

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

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

Lucy Easthope

Disaster planner and recovery expert

Ed Balls

Economist, broadcaster and former cabinet minister

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CULTURE

MORE AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Author Interview - Front Page TCE The author Interview

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Helen Brown

“When you see extremely violent sexual stuff on stage you always need to ask: who’s creating it for who and why?”

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

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

Tessa Hadley

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

Francesca Beauman

The Persephone Books publisher discusses forgotten gems written by women and the imprint’s 150th book

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The politics of colour

Tina Gharavi

Tina Gharavi’s full response to the controversy surrounding Queen Cleopatra, a Netflix series about the identity of the legendary last pharaoh

There’s always whisky

Miranda Seymour

Jean Rhys, literary genius and troubled alcoholic

Acts of sedition

Pauline F Kiernan

Shakespeare’s Richard II was pure treason, so how did he get away with it? asks the author

FILM

Gangster wrap

Anne Billson

STYLE

Dressing for doomsday

Christobel Kent

POETRY

Hermeneutics by Rebecca Hurst

There's a Walrus on My Windscreen by Ian Humphreys

I Am Waiting For You by Risalet Merdan

Tight Little Island by Rishi Dastidar

Blood Moon by Gillian Clarke

ART

Art is not a luxury

Rachel Campbell Johnston

MUSIC

Man-made girl bands

Lily Webb

CULTURE

The author Interview

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Helen Brown

“While there was no shortage of women writers getting published, their novels weren’t being honoured like the ones men were writing”

Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse discusses the new women’s prize for non-fiction and her latest novel The Ghost Ship with Helen Brown

Hanna Pylväinen

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

Cathy Newman

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

Bee Wilson

The food writer, journalist, author and charity campaigner for TastEd discusses festive family rituals, celebrating Christmas as a newly single parent and her first recipe book

FEATURES