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…
COMMENT
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…
English pastoral
Guy Shrubsole explores England’s buried tradition of land reform, where less than one percent of…
Time’s arrow
“Lest we forget” is carved into stone in village squares, town halls and city monuments…
Where hope takes root
As headlines veer toward the apocalyptic – from collapsing ecosystems to vanishing species – it’s…
Falling better
The only thing slower than writing books, it seems, is publishing them. The mechanisms of…
Roar deal
A century ago, America was ablaze in progressive change: Jazz. Flappers. Shorter skirts. Speakeasies. The…
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COMMENT
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…
Only connect
Last month I went to Susheila Nasta’s 70th birthday party in Greenwich, south-east London. I’d…
Perspectives
Perspectives
Too young to wrinkle
Women in their twenties are already learning to fear the first signs of ageing
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
Ben Delo
The entrepreneur, philanthropist and Britain's youngest self-made billionaire talks about co-founding BitMEX, the Lamborghinis he never drove and watching the Queen's funeral with Jordan Peterson
Rory Stewart
The former MP talks about global conflict and the possibility of his return to front-line politics
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As
Dan Snow
The historian on the eighteenth century, a picnic with Hilary Mantel, and covering Britain in windmills
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
Jeremy Paxman
The Newsnight inquisitor on lying bastards, the Enigma machine he was sent and his dog Derek
Ed Balls
The former Shadow Chancellor on his book Appetite, the Granita dinner with no polenta, and a midlife crisis going really well
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
Wasfi Kani, CBE
The opera founder on Pimlico, the Merkel arts package shaming Britain and the racist messages that still arrive
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
Robert Peston
The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children
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
Daniel Howell
The YouTube comedian on his mental health book, overwatering a bonsai to death and Mr Blobby
Andrew Roberts
The Churchill biographer on George III, the 28 charges Jefferson invented and the Hamilton villain history got wrong
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
Michael Holding
The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott
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
Katy Brand
The comedian on Leo Grande, Dirty Dancing as her Mastermind subject and the pilgrimage that made her an atheist
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
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
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
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
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
Ed Balls
The former Shadow Chancellor on his book Appetite, the Granita dinner with no polenta, and a midlife crisis going really well
Wasfi Kani, CBE
The opera founder on Pimlico, the Merkel arts package shaming Britain and the racist messages that still arrive
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
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
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
Rosie Holt
The actress and comedian behind the spoof Tory MP videos, on Partygate, Suella Braverman's "wokerati" and the Labour MP she fooled
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
Daniel Howell
The YouTube comedian on his mental health book, overwatering a bonsai to death and Mr Blobby
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
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
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
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
DBC Pierre
The Booker winner on Big Snake Little Snake the rabid dog he lied about and what Mexico taught him
CULTURE
FEATURES
The politics of colour
Tina Gharavi’s full response to the controversy surrounding Queen Cleopatra, a Netflix series about the identity of the legendary last pharaoh
Acts of sedition
Shakespeare’s Richard II was pure treason, so how did he get away with it? asks the author
CULTURE
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
The Persephone Books publisher discusses forgotten gems written by women and the imprint’s 150th book
Channel 4’s first female news anchor discusses trailblazing women, internet trolls, sexual assault and her book The Ladder
FEATURES
Gothic delights
Exploring the history of a genre that first bewitched Elizabeth as a teenage Joy Division fan
POETRY
Book Reviews
LIFE
Hungry Ghosts
Clearing the flat of her late, estranged father, Patricia finds the recipe for forgiveness
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