LATEST HEADLINES
LATEST HEADLINES
Killarney and Clonmel automatic climate stations recorded 28.8C at about 3pm on Monday. A record May temperature of 28.8C has been recorded at two weather stations, according to Met Eireann…
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…
New protest laws would be extreme
Having been bored into a stupor by a supposedly Conservative government’s serial failure to be conservative, something Rishi Sunak said recently suddenly had a voice inside me crying, “Whoa!”. His…
Time for a class act
January is San Francisco’s coldest and wettest month, and generally its quietest. That wasn’t the…
Hedge fund
According to the great Dr Oliver Rackham, hedges may be the oldest manmade structures on…
Where hope takes root
As headlines veer toward the apocalyptic – from collapsing ecosystems to vanishing species – it’s…
History’s false promises
In 2015, when interviewing Jonathan Sumption, Matt Stadlen asked a deceptively simple question: “Why does…
Time’s arrow
“Lest we forget” is carved into stone in village squares, town halls and city monuments…
GET THE PERSPECTIVE NEWSLETTER
For some of the world’s best independent writing on the stories and ideas shaping our world
COMMENT
New protest laws would be extreme
Having been bored into a stupor by a supposedly Conservative…
The rewilding Republican
Some years ago, I saw the legendary radical environmentalist Dave Foreman give his famous “howl…
English pastoral
Guy Shrubsole explores England’s buried tradition of land reform, where less than one percent of…
Passing as upper class
Lots of things from the 1990s are difficult to explain to your teenage children now:…
Perspectives
Perspectives
Talking back to Big Brother
Trust is a two-way process and self-reliance is needed to counter government overreach
Too low for zero
We need to talk about testosterone deficiency, a debilitating syndrome that affects millions of men
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
Shami Chakrabarti
Lawyer and human rights activist Shami Chakrabarti defends the ECHR and discusses how notions of liberty are inverted to justify oppression
Rory Stewart
The former MP talks about global conflict and the possibility of his return to front-line politics
Chuck Berry
The revolutionary musician who single-handedly transformed rock 'n' roll
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As
Michael Holding
The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott
Benny Higgins
The Glasgow boy who became a banker on Tesco, five marriages and Kwasi Kwarteng's brief reign of havoc
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
Andrew Roberts
The Churchill biographer on George III, the 28 charges Jefferson invented and the Hamilton villain history got wrong
Dan Snow
The historian on the eighteenth century, a picnic with Hilary Mantel, and covering Britain in windmills
Sally Phillips
The Smack the Pony comedian on Veep, faith, disability advocacy and the son who's changed how she sees what matters
DBC Pierre
The Booker winner on Big Snake Little Snake the rabid dog he lied about and what Mexico taught him
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
Rosie Holt
The actress and comedian behind the spoof Tory MP videos, on Partygate, Suella Braverman's "wokerati" and the Labour MP she fooled
Jeremy Paxman
The Newsnight inquisitor on lying bastards, the Enigma machine he was sent and his dog Derek
Wynne Evans
The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole
Daniel Howell
The YouTube comedian on his mental health book, overwatering a bonsai to death and Mr Blobby
Tom Curry
The youngest England forward capped in 100 years, on meditation, mullets and Maro Itoje's scrambled eggs
Ed Vaizey
The former Culture Minister on meeting Tom Cruise at BAFTA, his cousin the American chant master and what really keeps him awake
Lucy Hughes-Hallett
The historian, biographer and novelist on her book The Scapegoat, her D'Annunzio biography The Pike, and why the King James Bible is the reason reggae lyrics are so gorgeous
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
Chris van Tulleken
The infectious diseases doctor, author and science presenter on what's really in our food, the politics of poverty, and his "anti-telepathic" twin
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
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As
Jeremy Paxman
The Newsnight inquisitor on lying bastards, the Enigma machine he was sent and his dog Derek
Tom Curry
The youngest England forward capped in 100 years, on meditation, mullets and Maro Itoje's scrambled eggs
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
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
Daniel Howell
The YouTube comedian on his mental health book, overwatering a bonsai to death and Mr Blobby
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
Sally Phillips
The Smack the Pony comedian on Veep, faith, disability advocacy and the son who's changed how she sees what matters
Robert Peston
The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children
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
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
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
Kate Mosse
The author and Women's Prize founder on her book Warrior Queens, her great-grandmother written out of history and the woman who foresaw global warming in 1856
Craig Brown
The Private Eye satirist on Haywire, Liz Truss as comedy gold and going blackberrying with John Stonehouse
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
Wynne Evans
The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole
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
Michael Holding
The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott
CULTURE
FEATURES
Acts of sedition
Shakespeare’s Richard II was pure treason, so how did he get away with it? asks the author
CULTURE
“For too long, women writing literary fiction – especially the funny kind – were not being taken seriously”
Amanda Craig
The critically acclaimed novelist discusses her 1950s-set novella The Party, why female writers dread sex scenes and male writers don't, and starting her career at 46
The Persephone Books publisher discusses forgotten gems written by women and the imprint’s 150th book
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
Gothic delights
Exploring the history of a genre that first bewitched Elizabeth as a teenage Joy Division fan
POETRY
LIFE
Alas, poor Yorick
When your childhood garden is a charnel house, and skeletons your toys
Free spirit
How a gap year full of travel and adventure became a “gap life” boundaried only by possibility and curiosity
LIFE
For better, for worse
June brings fewer wedding bells, but Scheherazade offers post-nuptial inspiration
Mid-life fever
A return to India prompts reflection on cycles of change in medicine and life
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



















































































