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Lord Advocate faces accusations of ‘misleading’ Holyrood with Murrell memos

Dorothy Bain KC answered questions from MSPs about a memo sent in March 2025 to John Swinney regarding an embezzlement charge facing Peter Murrell. Scotland’s Lord Advocate has been accused…

Culture Secretary welcomes investigation into BBC Bafta broadcast

Robison urges her successor to be ‘bold and ambitious’ as Holyrood backs Budget

Rescue service volunteers hoped to find Noah Donohoe alive, inquest told

Senior officer apologised to family ‘personally’ over Aberfeldy murder failings

University not told of psychiatrist’s concerns that Valdo Calocane might kill

Artist Dame Tracey Emin ‘proud to be British’

Queen and Paddington Bear share marmalade sandwiches at star-studded reception

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COMMENT

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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

Correcting our Grammar mistake

During the Blair years, when recalcitrant Conservatives longed for a pledge to open new grammar schools, no class warrior threw himself into the battle against selective education with such ferocity…

Sally Hayden

War reporter

Cambridge In early September I attended the British Red Cross summer school in international humanitarian…

Kate Devlin

You’re on camera

There’s a quotation by American historian Timothy Snyder currently circulating on social media. It comes…

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

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

Keiran Goddard

Falling better

The only thing slower than writing books, it seems, is publishing them. The mechanisms of…

Michael Janofsky

Fight madness with more madness

Most of my friends and I live in a bubble (Los Angeles) within a bubble…

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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…

Mic Wright

High society

In 1989, Richard Hoggart wrote in his introduction to George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan…

Peter Lawlor

Rent in two

In this class-themed issue I want to touch on an important social distinction in the…

Guy Shrubsole

English pastoral

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

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Perspectives

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Free as a bird

Keggie Carew

A meditation on our complex relationship with wildness

A ban on thinking

Mic Wright

Even contemplating protest now risks arrest

Les Temps Modernes

Antony Beevor

The Liberation of Paris in August 1944 led to an era of philosophical, political and sexual ferment

Living on cloud wine

Nick Cohen

Our society's cavalier attitude towards alcoholism

Perspectives

Snob value

Philip Hensher

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

Birth room battles

Milli Hill

Women are not being properly consulted about their wishes during childbirth

Squeezed dry

Claudia Cockerell

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

Too low for zero

Khaled Bazzi

We need to talk about testosterone deficiency, a debilitating syndrome that affects millions of men

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PEOPLE

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TCE The Interview The Interview - Front Page

BY

Gavin Esler

Henry Dimbleby

Our diet is killing us, but politicians and big business don’t want to know, says the food entrepreneur and writer

In Conversation In Conversation - Front Page

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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

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Andrew Lownie

Earl Mountbatten

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

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As

Ronni Ancona

Comedian, actress and filmmaker

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Rosie Holt

Comedian and actress

Wynne Evans

Opera singer and radio presenter

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet newspaper

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Sally Phillips

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

Jeremy Bowen

International Editor of BBC News

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Chris Smith

Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and former Culture Secretary

Lucy Easthope

Disaster planner and recovery expert

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Kate Mosse

Author and founder of the Women’s Prize

Benny Higgins

Banker

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Kate Mosse

Author and founder of the Women’s Prize

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

Katie Brand

Award-winning writer and comedian

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

Ed Balls

Economist, broadcaster and former cabinet minister

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

Tom Curry

England Rugby International and Sale Sharks Flanker

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Chris Smith

Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and former Culture Secretary

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Bobby Seagull

Maths teacher, author and TV broadcaster

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Wasfi Kani, CBE

Founder of Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera

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CULTURE

MORE AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Author Interview - Front Page The author Interview

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Helen Brown

“The vitriol online can really knock your confidence”

Cathy Newman

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

Francesca Beauman

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

Tessa Hadley

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

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

FEATURES

Gothic delights

Elizabeth Sharkey

Exploring the history of a genre that first bewitched Elizabeth as a teenage Joy Division fan

There’s always whisky

Miranda Seymour

Jean Rhys, literary genius and trouble alcoholic

FILM

Apocalypse now and then

Anne Billson

STYLE

Girls will be boys

Christobel Kent

POETRY

I Am Waiting For You by Risalet Merdan

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

Hermeneutics by Rebecca Hurst

Tight Little Island by Rishi Dastidar

There's a Walrus on My Windscreen by Ian Humphreys

ART

Art in an emergency

Max Lunn

MUSIC

Raye against the machine

Laura Barton

CULTURE

Author Interview - Front Page The author Interview

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Helen Brown

This is a book that faces the awful possibility of a wind’s death amid climate collapse

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

Hanna Pylväinen

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

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

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