Perspective Media | Read the world differently

LATEST HEADLINES

Do not make a difficult time worse with tax hikes, warns shadow chancellor

Andrew Griffith’s comments came ahead of his first major speech since being appointed to the role by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. The shadow chancellor has warned it is “a difficult…

Debenhams reveals earnings jump as turnaround gathers pace

Next warns against growth-‘stifling’ tax rises in Budget

Irish President meets King during official visit to Scotland

King to seek ‘reassurance’ from AI leaders amid concerns over the technology

William and Kate head to Bute for first official trip to island

Royals set to carry out engagements after book claims

Offspring from one of the world’s rarest trees finds new home in Scotland

MORE NEWS

COMMENT

VIEW ALL

Sonia Sodha

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…

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…

Wade Graham

The rewilding Republican

Some years ago, I saw the legendary radical environmentalist Dave Foreman give his famous “howl…

Sam Fowles

Time’s arrow

“Lest we forget” is carved into stone in village squares, town halls and city monuments…

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

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

Peter Lawlor

History’s false promises

In 2015, when interviewing Jonathan Sumption, Matt Stadlen asked a deceptively simple question: “Why does…

Nathaniel Tapley

Cradle of libertines

England likes to think of itself as “the cradle of liberty”. True, if you think…

GET THE PERSPECTIVE NEWSLETTER

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

An age without rival

It wasn’t long before Hallowe’en that I noted many of…

Michael Janofsky

Long division

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

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…

VIEW ALL

Perspectives

VIEW ALL

All that jazz

Lucy Moore

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

The young ones

Lily Webb

The new generation of men are emotionally literate and comfortable in their skin

One of us

Nicola Rollock

Social class and race are not mutually exclusive

Oyster grit

Claudia Cockerell

Two Cornish fishermen defy the failings of South West Water

Perspectives

Snob value

Philip Hensher

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

#MeToo returns

Charlotte Proudman

New high-profile cases expose deep-rooted misogyny

Caste list

Anjana Menon

From Modi to cricket to young influencers, caste is no longer a barrier to the top in India

Silence of the lambs

Fred Skulthorp

The Left’s embrace of the covid consensus has badly impacted the world’s poor

VIEW ALL

PEOPLE

VIEW ALL

TCE The Interview The Interview - Front Page

BY

Gavin Esler

Martin Rees

The Astronomer Royal on existential risk, the historic £100 stipend his post still pays and why engineered viruses worry him more than nuclear war

In Conversation In Conversation - Front Page TCE

BY

Rowan Pelling

Dominic Cummings

The Brexit strategist on a start-up party he's drafting, Brexit, the covid inquiry, Whitehall and other shit-shows

Reputations Reputations - Front Page

BY

Andrew Lownie

Earl Mountbatten

Re-evaluating the legacy of one of the last century’s most controversial leaders

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As

Vince Cable

The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York

Lynn Barber

The "Demon Barber" on art, smoking and 80 years of asking the awkward questions

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

Tom Curry

The youngest England forward capped in 100 years, on meditation, mullets and Maro Itoje's scrambled eggs

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

Robert Peston

The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children

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

Wynne Evans

The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole

Michael Holding

The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott

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

Craig Brown

The Private Eye satirist on Haywire, Liz Truss as comedy gold and going blackberrying with John Stonehouse

Katy Brand

The comedian on Leo Grande, Dirty Dancing as her Mastermind subject and the pilgrimage that made her an atheist

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

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

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

Benny Higgins

The Glasgow boy who became a banker on Tesco, five marriages and Kwasi Kwarteng's brief reign of havoc

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

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet on Spare Rib, addiction and the ladder Thatcher refused to chuck down

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

Sally Phillips

The Smack the Pony comedian on Veep, faith, disability advocacy and the son who's changed how she sees what matters

Michael Holding

The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott

Robert Peston

The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children

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

Jeremy Paxman

The Newsnight inquisitor on lying bastards, the Enigma machine he was sent and his dog Derek

Joanna Lumley

The actress on a Malayan childhood, Genghis Khan beating Trump and the books she wants in her coffin

Zandra Rhodes

The fashion designer on Divine, Freddie Mercury and 55 years of not getting pig-headed

Andrew Roberts

The Churchill biographer on George III, the 28 charges Jefferson invented and the Hamilton villain history got wrong

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

Dan Snow

The historian on the eighteenth century, a picnic with Hilary Mantel, and covering Britain in windmills

Katy Brand

The comedian on Leo Grande, Dirty Dancing as her Mastermind subject and the pilgrimage that made her an atheist

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

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet on Spare Rib, addiction and the ladder Thatcher refused to chuck down

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

DBC Pierre

The Booker winner on Big Snake Little Snake the rabid dog he lied about and what Mexico taught him

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

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

Wynne Evans

The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole

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

Lynn Barber

The "Demon Barber" on art, smoking and 80 years of asking the awkward questions

VIEW ALL

CULTURE

MORE AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Author Interview - Front Page TCE The author Interview

by

Helen Brown

“Mum set up the company just after her fifth child, my younger brother, left home”

Francesca Beauman

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

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

Hanna Pylväinen

The Whiting Award and Balcones Fiction Prize-winner discusses her novel The End of Drum-Time, the Lutheran church she left at 21 and growing up with seven siblings and thirteen aunts and uncles

Sarah Hall

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

FEATURES

There’s always whisky

Miranda Seymour

Jean Rhys, literary genius and troubled alcoholic

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

Hymn to Hestia

Natalie Haynes

The forgotten goddess of the hearth

FILM

Gangster wrap

Anne Billson

STYLE

Dressing for dinner

Christobel Kent

POETRY

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

Tight Little Island by Rishi Dastidar

There's a Walrus on My Windscreen by Ian Humphreys

Hermeneutics by Rebecca Hurst

I Am Waiting For You by Risalet Merdan

ART

Glances with wolves

Peter Phelps

MUSIC

Hop aboard the turntable

Laura Barton

CULTURE

Author Interview - Front Page TCE The author Interview

by

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

Tessa Hadley

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

Cathy Newman

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