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
Reading the room
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…
Falling better
The only thing slower than writing books, it seems, is publishing them. The mechanisms of…
Where hope takes root
As headlines veer toward the apocalyptic – from collapsing ecosystems to vanishing species – it’s…
Fight madness with more madness
Most of my friends and I live in a bubble (Los Angeles) within a bubble…
Bonkers bunkers
In December 2023 Ron Hubbard, a security consultant from Texas (not to be confused with…
Hold the blank page
As I sat down to write this column, a tundra of white space stretched out…
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COMMENT
Free for all
When you’re stuck in the swamp of a midlife crisis, there’s generally only two ways…
Cradle of libertines
England likes to think of itself as “the cradle of liberty”. True, if you think…
Past futures
When we reach for past visions of the future to measure against our reality, we…
Perspectives
Bacteria Wars
The priceless legacy of the revolutionary doctors and scientists who led the battle against Strep A
Perspectives
Bacteria Wars
The priceless legacy of the revolutionary doctors and scientists who led the battle against Strep A
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
Catherine the Great
The enlightened empress who inoculated herself to protect her subjects and advance science
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As
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
Rosie Boycott
The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet on Spare Rib, addiction and the ladder Thatcher refused to chuck down
Joanna Lumley
The actress on a Malayan childhood, Genghis Khan beating Trump and the books she wants in her coffin
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
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
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
Ed Vaizey
The former Culture Minister on meeting Tom Cruise at BAFTA, his cousin the American chant master and what really keeps him awake
Craig Brown
The Private Eye satirist on Haywire, Liz Truss as comedy gold and going blackberrying with John Stonehouse
Robert Peston
The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children
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
Wasfi Kani, CBE
The opera founder on Pimlico, the Merkel arts package shaming Britain and the racist messages that still arrive
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
Daniel Howell
The YouTube comedian on his mental health book, overwatering a bonsai to death and Mr Blobby
Dan Snow
The historian on the eighteenth century, a picnic with Hilary Mantel, and covering Britain in windmills
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
Katy Brand
The comedian on Leo Grande, Dirty Dancing as her Mastermind subject and the pilgrimage that made her an atheist
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As
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
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
Craig Brown
The Private Eye satirist on Haywire, Liz Truss as comedy gold and going blackberrying with John Stonehouse
Vince Cable
The former Lib Dem leader on Strictly, the Murdoch hidden mic and a Quaker chocolate childhood in York
DBC Pierre
The Booker winner on Big Snake Little Snake the rabid dog he lied about and what Mexico taught him
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
Robert Peston
The ITV political editor on his book Bust?, Trussonomics and the schools charity that's reached half a million children
Sally Phillips
The Smack the Pony comedian on Veep, faith, disability advocacy and the son who's changed how she sees what matters
Ed Vaizey
The former Culture Minister on meeting Tom Cruise at BAFTA, his cousin the American chant master and what really keeps him awake
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
Michael Holding
The West Indies fast bowler on Why We Kneel, race in cricket and his over against Boycott
Jeremy Paxman
The Newsnight inquisitor on lying bastards, the Enigma machine he was sent and his dog Derek
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
Wynne Evans
The GoCompare opera singer on depression, becoming a Welsh druid and being sent into Stephen Hawking's black hole
Rosie Boycott
The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet on Spare Rib, addiction and the ladder Thatcher refused to chuck down
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
Wasfi Kani, CBE
The opera founder on Pimlico, the Merkel arts package shaming Britain and the racist messages that still arrive
CULTURE
FEATURES
Gothic delights
Exploring the history of a genre that first bewitched Elizabeth as a teenage Joy Division fan
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
CULTURE
“All I had ever wanted to do was write a novel. When I held the first copy, aged 42, I cried”
Emma Flint
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
For better, for worse
June brings fewer wedding bells, but Scheherazade offers post-nuptial inspiration
Alas, poor Yorick
When your childhood garden is a charnel house, and skeletons your toys
LIFE
Hungry Ghosts
Clearing the flat of her late, estranged father, Patricia finds the recipe for forgiveness
LETTERS FROM ELSEWHERE
MIND OVER MATTER
Neurological-based
advice
FROM DR ASH RANPURA
MIND OVER MATTER
Neurological-based
advice
FROM DR ASH RANPURA