Perspective Media | Read the world differently

LATEST HEADLINES

Co-op plans to take over hundreds of shops in Southern Co-op deal

The societies announced proposals which would need to be approved by members to go ahead. The Co-op Group is planning to take over Southern Co-op in a deal that would…

Swinney: Iran ceasefire deal a chance to ‘step back from the brink’

UK hits highest early April temperature in 80 years, Met Office says

Man who caused blast that destroyed partner’s house jailed for 11 years

Woman urges Swinney to boycott Israel as interview interrupted

Church of England to apologise for role in forced adoptions

Starmer: Work still to do to end US-Iran conflict and reopen Strait of Hormuz

NS&I puts Green Savings Bonds back on sale with an increased rate

MORE NEWS

COMMENT

VIEW ALL

Sonia Sodha

The pitfalls of assisted dying

One of the first concepts new students of philosophy are introduced to is Isaiah Berlin’s famous distinction between “freedom to” and “freedom from”: an illustration of the fact that giving…

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…

Peter Lawlor

History’s false promises

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

Peter Lawlor

Creative destruction

According to a quip once made by Peter Ustinov, “Just before the world blows itself…

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

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

Sam Fowles

Posh performance

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

Michael Janofsky

Roar deal

A century ago, America was ablaze in progressive change: Jazz. Flappers. Shorter skirts. Speakeasies. The…

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

Correcting our Grammar mistake

During the Blair years, when recalcitrant Conservatives longed for a…

Sam Fowles

Might is not right

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

Guy Shrubsole

English pastoral

Guy Shrubsole explores England’s buried tradition of land reform, where less than one percent of…

Nathaniel Tapley

Defenestration nation

Postmortems on the corpse of the Conservative party are much like those on real bodies:…

VIEW ALL

Perspectives

VIEW ALL

Snob value

Philip Hensher

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

Women have it good

Zoe Strimpel

Capitalism works for the sisterhood

Squeezed dry

Claudia Cockerell

The water companies have drained the coffers as well as the rivers

AI makes you stupid

Susie Alegre

It's shrinking your brain – but don't panic, because swearing can reboot your cognitive creativity

Perspectives

Free as a bird

Keggie Carew

A meditation on our complex relationship with wildness

Lessons from History

Perspective Media

We asked some of our favourite historians and writers what key insights they have gained from studying the past

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

VIEW ALL

PEOPLE

VIEW ALL

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

BY

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

BY

Mic Wright

Caroline Calloway

The headline-hitting American social climber who found fame via a “faked” Cambridge application

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As

Bobby Seagull

Maths teacher, author and TV broadcaster

Lynn Barber

author and journalist

Katie Brand

Award-winning writer and comedian

Sally Phillips

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

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Chris Smith

Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and former Culture Secretary

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

Wynne Evans

Opera singer and radio presenter

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet newspaper

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Kate Mosse

Author and founder of the Women’s Prize

Benny Higgins

Banker

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Jeremy Bowen

International Editor of BBC News

Michael Holding

Former West Indies Test cricketer and Sky Sports commentator

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Lynn Barber

author and journalist

Vince Cable

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

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

Benny Higgins

Banker

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

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

Hanna Pylväinen

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

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

Mary Beard

The classicist, Cambridge don and trustee of the British Museum discusses flamingo-brain feasts, gender surgery in antiquity and her new book Emperor of Rome

FEATURES

Acts of sedition

Pauline F Kiernan

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

Zealots not harlots

Elizabeth Sharkey

How Quaker dissenters became England’s first feminists

FILM

The life fantastic

Anne Billson

STYLE

Dressing for doomsday

Christobel Kent

POETRY

There's a Walrus on My Windscreen by Ian Humphreys

Blood Moon by Gillian Clarke

Hermeneutics by Rebecca Hurst

Tight Little Island by Rishi Dastidar

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

ART

The herstory of art

Max Lunn

MUSIC

Prisoner with a key

Laura Barton

CULTURE

The author Interview

by

Helen Brown

“For too long, women writing literary fiction – especially the funny kind – were not being taken seriously”

Amanda Craig

Discusses older women and her new book The Three Graces

Tessa Hadley

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

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