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Kanye West postpones French show weeks after UK visa cancellation

West was due to perform at the Marseille Velodrome in June, but the event faced growing public backlash. Kanye West has postponed a concert in France amid mounting political opposition.…

Standard Life strikes £2bn deal to buy Aegon UK

Barratt cautions over rising build costs as Iran war sends energy prices soaring

Poor relationship with Starmer will not overshadow King’s visit, Trump insists

Liverpool manager ‘surprised’ Hillsborough Law not yet passed

Learner drivers to get booking fees refunded over crackdown on drip-pricing

Duke of Sussex takes part in Aboriginal smoking ceremony

Duke of Sussex meets Indigenous veterans at Australian War Memorial

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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

Why Labour has to be conservative

Here’s a paradox for you: Britain is a conservative country that hates the Conservative party. As our American cousins vulgarly say: “Do the math.” On 4 July 24 per cent…

Peter Phelps

Time for a class act

January is San Francisco’s coldest and wettest month, and generally its quietest. That wasn’t the…

Christopher Hart

Hedge fund

According to the great Dr Oliver Rackham, hedges may be the oldest manmade structures on…

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

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

Peter Phelps

Hopeful histories

“No news is good news”, the saying goes, but the reverse is also true. Good…

Wade Graham

The new nomadism

Thrust into the global warming era, there’s much handwringing about how to build, and increasingly…

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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 road to recovery

First in 1945, then 1997 and now 2024. The three…

Simon Heffer

Why Labour has to be conservative

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

Peter Lawlor

Rent in two

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

Sam Fowles

Might is not right

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

Nathaniel Tapley

Bonkers bunkers

In December 2023 Ron Hubbard, a security consultant from Texas (not to be confused with…

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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

Birth room battles

Milli Hill

Women are not being properly consulted about their wishes during childbirth

Cough cough

Jennifer Traig

The New Crusades

Boris Starling

From crusader crosses at marches to political speeches quoting the Old Testament, a strident form of Christian nationalism is crossing the Atlantic, threatening Britain's traditional separation of church and state

Perspectives

The end of days

Boris Starling

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

A ban on thinking

Mic Wright

Even contemplating protest now risks arrest

Democracy inaction

Gavin Esler

From Russia to Rwanda, a year of record global voting masks a deepening crisis for democratic freedom

Too low for zero

Khaled Bazzi

We need to talk about testosterone deficiency, a debilitating syndrome that affects millions of men

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PEOPLE

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The Interview The Interview – Front Page

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Gavin Esler

Hein de Haas

Sociologist and myth-buster Hein de Haas explains how politicians’ pandering to prejudice has backfired

In Conversation In Conversation – Front Page

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Perspective Media

Rory Stewart

The former MP talks to Peter Phelps and Rowan Pelling about global conflict and the possibility of his return to front-line politics

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

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

Benny Higgins

Banker

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Chris Smith

Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and former Culture Secretary

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Michael Holding

Former West Indies Test cricketer and Sky Sports commentator

Sally Phillips

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

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Rosie Holt

Comedian and actress

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Ed Balls

Economist, broadcaster and former cabinet minister

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Lynn Barber

author and journalist

Vince Cable

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

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

Katie Brand

Award-winning writer and comedian

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

Tom Curry

England Rugby International and Sale Sharks Flanker

Sally Phillips

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

Bobby Seagull

Maths teacher, author and TV broadcaster

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Chris Smith

Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and former Culture Secretary

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet newspaper

Benny Higgins

Banker

Jeremy Bowen

International Editor of BBC News

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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

Cathy Newman

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

Francesca Beauman

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

Tessa Hadley

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

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

There’s always whisky

Miranda Seymour

Jean Rhys, literary genius and trouble alcoholic

FILM

Apocalypse now and then

Anne Billson

STYLE

Anything goes

Christobel Kent

POETRY

Hermeneutics by Rebecca Hurst

I Am Waiting For You by Risalet Merdan

Tight Little Island by Rishi Dastidar

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

There's a Walrus on My Windscreen by Ian Humphreys

ART

New images, new perceptions

Max Lunn

MUSIC

Hop aboard the turntable

Laura Barton

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

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

Hanna Pylväinen

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

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