Digital ID can be accepted as proof of age for alcohol under new rules
The move aims to provide an alternative to carrying a physical ID. Pubs and retailers will be able to accept digital ID as proof of age to buy alcohol under…
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COMMENT
The road to recovery
First in 1945, then 1997 and now 2024. The three times in history that a Labour government has been elected on a sweeping majority, crushing the Conservative incumbents. What Keir Starmer…
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…
History’s false promises
In 2015, when interviewing Jonathan Sumption, Matt Stadlen asked a deceptively simple question: “Why does…
Creative destruction
According to a quip once made by Peter Ustinov, “Just before the world blows itself…
Where hope takes root
As headlines veer toward the apocalyptic – from collapsing ecosystems to vanishing species – it’s…
Unfree speech
Free speech is “under threat”, or so we are continually told. Under threat from whom?…
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COMMENT
New protest laws would be extreme
Having been bored into a stupor by a supposedly Conservative…
Time for a class act
January is San Francisco’s coldest and wettest month, and generally its quietest. That wasn’t the…
Question time
A little while ago, I was invited to a small private dinner at a well-known…
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https://www.perspectivemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/mic.mp3 Listen to this article As I sat down to write this column, a tundra…
Perspectives
Too low for zero
We need to talk about testosterone deficiency, a debilitating syndrome that affects millions of men
The colder war
AI weaponry has already made sci-fi a reality, so the big question is: can we control the machines?
Know thy past
Current shocking violence in Israel and Gaza has its roots in ages of conflict and injustice
Perspectives
Dollar fever
Competing currencies won’t unlock the world from the shackles of US financial hegemony
Lessons from History
We asked some of our favourite historians and writers what key insights they have gained from studying the past
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
Charles Spencer
The writer, historian, podcaster and 9th Earl Spencer talks about boarding school trauma, class aspirations and the importance of speaking out
Ian Anderson
The leader of prog rock band Jethro Tull talks about the end of days, faith, fencesitting, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the band’s album RökFlöte
Caroline Calloway
The headline-hitting American social climber who found fame via a “faked” Cambridge application
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As
Michael Holding
The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott
Chris Smith
The former Culture Secretary on being the first male MP to come out as gay, the call from Mandela and what It's a Sin revealed
Jeremy Bowen
The BBC International Editor on testifying against Karadžić at The Hague, a brush with bowel cancer and Cardiff bars he'd close during play
Ronni Ancona
The comedian, actress and filmmaker on her mahout childhood ambition, the cat who smokes Rothmans and the wildlife agency she calls green spies
Phil Hammond
The doctor, comedian and Private Eye columnist on the Bristol heart scandal, Jacob Rees-Mogg and why health is not what happens in hospitals
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
Wynne Evans
The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole
Doon Mackichan
The actress, author and Smack the Pony comedian on My Lady Parts, Ricky Gervais turning up to "improve" the show and spray-painting over sexist ads
Tom Curry
The youngest England forward capped in 100 years, on meditation, mullets and Maro Itoje's scrambled eggs
Sally Phillips
The Smack the Pony comedian on Veep, faith, disability advocacy and the son who's changed how she sees what matters
John Lloyd
The Spitting Image and Blackadder producer on twenty-one series of QI, why he left satire at 36, and Radio Barking, the comedy station that never aired
Benny Higgins
The Glasgow boy who became a banker on Tesco, five marriages and Kwasi Kwarteng's brief reign of havoc
Rosie Holt
The actress and comedian behind the spoof Tory MP videos, on Partygate, Suella Braverman's "wokerati" and the Labour MP she fooled
Ed Balls
The former Shadow Chancellor on his book Appetite, the Granita dinner with no polenta, and a midlife crisis going really well
Bobby Seagull
The author, maths teacher, broadcaster and quizzer on his book The Life-changing Magic of Numbers, dancing The Real Dirty Dancing and finding love on Netflix
Rosie Boycott
The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet on Spare Rib, addiction and the ladder Thatcher refused to chuck down
Craig Brown
The Private Eye satirist on Haywire, Liz Truss as comedy gold and going blackberrying with John Stonehouse
Dan Snow
The historian on the eighteenth century, a picnic with Hilary Mantel, and covering Britain in windmills
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As
Jeremy Bowen
The BBC International Editor on testifying against Karadžić at The Hague, a brush with bowel cancer and Cardiff bars he'd close during play
Benny Higgins
The Glasgow boy who became a banker on Tesco, five marriages and Kwasi Kwarteng's brief reign of havoc
Mike Figgis
The composer and Leaving Las Vegas director on Timecode written as a string quartet, refusing the Hollywood club and missing his friend Julian Sands
Lucy Easthope
The disaster planner and recover expert on her book When the Dust Settles, the Welsh word hiraeth for aching loss and a friend's correct snack ratio for the bunker
Daniel Howell
The YouTube comedian on his mental health book, overwatering a bonsai to death and Mr Blobby
Sally Phillips
The Smack the Pony comedian on Veep, faith, disability advocacy and the son who's changed how she sees what matters
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
Doon Mackichan
The actress, author and Smack the Pony comedian on My Lady Parts, Ricky Gervais turning up to "improve" the show and spray-painting over sexist ads
Tom Curry
The youngest England forward capped in 100 years, on meditation, mullets and Maro Itoje's scrambled eggs
Jeremy Paxman
The Newsnight inquisitor on lying bastards, the Enigma machine he was sent and his dog Derek
Dan Snow
The historian on the eighteenth century, a picnic with Hilary Mantel, and covering Britain in windmills
Joanna Lumley
The actress on a Malayan childhood, Genghis Khan beating Trump and the books she wants in her coffin
Rosie Boycott
The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet on Spare Rib, addiction and the ladder Thatcher refused to chuck down
Wasfi Kani, CBE
The opera founder on Pimlico, the Merkel arts package shaming Britain and the racist messages that still arrive
Ronni Ancona
The comedian, actress and filmmaker on her mahout childhood ambition, the cat who smokes Rothmans and the wildlife agency she calls green spies
Lord David Owen
The former Foreign Secretary and co-founder of the SDP on two centuries of British-Russian relations, Brexit and being Steel's pocket puppet
Chris Smith
The former Culture Secretary on being the first male MP to come out as gay, the call from Mandela and what It's a Sin revealed
Ed Balls
The former Shadow Chancellor on his book Appetite, the Granita dinner with no polenta, and a midlife crisis going really well
Wynne Evans
The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole
Robert Peston
The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children
CULTURE
FEATURES
Gothic delights
Exploring the history of a genre that first bewitched Elizabeth as a teenage Joy Division fan
Acts of sedition
Shakespeare’s Richard II was pure treason, so how did he get away with it? asks the author
CULTURE
Novelist Sarah Hall on her Goldsmiths Prize-shortlisted Helm, why it took over twenty years to write a biography of Britain's only named wind, climate collapse, "radical optimism," and the power of imaginative storytelling to transform how we think about environmental crisis
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
The Persephone Books publisher discusses forgotten gems written by women and the imprint’s 150th book
FEATURES
POETRY
Book Reviews
LIFE
Hungry Ghosts
Clearing the flat of her late, estranged father, Patricia finds the recipe for forgiveness
LIFE
Alas, poor Yorick
When your childhood garden is a charnel house, and skeletons your toys
For better, for worse
June brings fewer wedding bells, but Scheherazade offers post-nuptial inspiration
LETTERS FROM ELSEWHERE
LETTERS FROM ELSEWHERE
MIND OVER MATTER
Neurological-based
advice
FROM DR ASH RANPURA
MIND OVER MATTER
Neurological-based
advice
FROM DR ASH RANPURA