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UK’s lead role on Strait of Hormuz highlights ‘mindset shift’, says Nato chief

Europe is assuming ‘a greater and fairer share of the task’ of providing for its defence, according to Mark Rutte. Britain leading an international push to ensure the future security…

Nicola Sturgeon opens up on arrest, divorce and ‘secret rendezvous’

Irish fuel protests causing ‘serious concern’ for emergency services

Keir Starmer says post-ceasefire Israeli strikes on Lebanon ‘wrong’

X Factor star Chico guilty of drink-driving ‘hours after breaking sobriety’

OpenAI says energy costs and regulation hold back major UK investment

Protesters ‘manipulated by outside actors’ like Tommy Robinson, says O’Callaghan

Keir Starmer: It takes more than just words to make US-Iran ceasefire permanent

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COMMENT

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Sonia Sodha

Breaking the class ceiling

Aspiration and social mobility were at the heart of Tony Blair’s “education, education, education” pitch in 1997. They are similarly echoed in Keir Starmer’s vision for Britain: he has repeatedly framed his desire to be…

Simon Heffer

New protest laws would be extreme

Having been bored into a stupor by a supposedly Conservative government’s serial failure to be conservative, something Rishi Sunak said recently suddenly had a voice inside me crying, “Whoa!”. His…

Monique Roffey

Only connect

Last month I went to Susheila Nasta’s 70th birthday party in Greenwich, south-east London. I’d…

Nathaniel Tapley

Cradle of libertines

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

Khaled Bazzi

Where hope takes root

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

Mic Wright

Past futures

When we reach for past visions of the future to measure against our reality, we…

Michael Janofsky

Defensive positions

When I was a kid and the Cold War was in full bloom, we were…

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COMMENT

Sonia Sodha

The pitfalls of assisted dying

One of the first concepts new students of philosophy are…

Simon Heffer

Why Labour has to be conservative

Here’s a paradox for you: Britain is a conservative country…

Peter Phelps

Free for all

When you’re stuck in the swamp of a midlife crisis, there’s generally only two ways…

Sarah Hall

Natural hazards

The first novel that truly affected me as a young reader was eschatological in nature.…

Peter Lawlor

Rent in two

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

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Perspectives

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Snob value

Philip Hensher

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

AI: A wake-up call

Khaled Bazzi

My generation’s missing out on the naughties

Róisín Lanigan

One of us

Nicola Rollock

Social class and race are not mutually exclusive

Perspectives

All that jazz

Lucy Moore

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

The nostalgia myth

Gavin Esler

The UK’s historical illiteracy has led to delusions that create problems for the future

Xi the Peacemaker

Michael Burleigh

China’s diplomatic manoeuvring wrong-foots the West

Deadly game

Nicholas Blincoe

Palestinians have been kicked around for decades – could football have something to teach politicians on every side?

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PEOPLE

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The Interview The Interview – Front Page

BY

Gavin Esler

Hein de Haas

Sociologist and myth-buster Hein de Haas explains how politicians’ pandering to prejudice has backfired

In Conversation In Conversation – Front Page TCE

BY

Rowan Pelling

Ian Anderson

The leader of prog rock band Jethro Tull talks about the end of days, faith, fencesitting, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the band’s new album, RökFlöte

Reputations Reputations – Front Page TCE

BY

Ben Wilson

Pasquale Paoli

The Corsican guerilla commander who inspired the modern quest for charismatic political leaders

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - Q&As

Tom Curry

England Rugby International and Sale Sharks Flanker

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Doon Mackichan

actress, comedian, author

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Historian, biographer, novelist

DBC Pierre

Booker Prize-winning author

Rosie Holt

Comedian and actress

Michael Holding

Former West Indies Test cricketer and Sky Sports commentator

Joanna Lumley

Actress, campaigner and national treasure

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Daniel Howell

Author, entertainer and comedian

Lucy Easthope

Disaster planner and recovery expert

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Vince Cable

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

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

Benny Higgins

Banker

Kate Mosse

Author and founder of the Women’s Prize

Wynne Evans

Opera singer and radio presenter

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Katie Brand

Award-winning writer and comedian

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Q&As

Phil Hammond

Doctor, comedian, journalist

Bobby Seagull

Maths teacher, author and TV broadcaster

Lord David Owen

Former foreign secretary and co-founder of the SDP

Ed Vaizey

Member of the House of Lords

Lucy Easthope

Disaster planner and recovery expert

Jeremy Paxman

Journalist, broadcaster and quizmaster

Chris van Tulleken

Doctor, author and science presenter

Mike Figgis

Film director, composer, musician

Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer

Sally Phillips

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

Andrew Roberts

Historian and journalist

Lynn Barber

author and journalist

Katie Brand

Award-winning writer and comedian

Kate Mosse

Author and founder of the Women’s Prize

Dan Snow

Historian and TV presenter

Robert Peston

ITV News political editor and presenter of Peston

Rosie Boycott

The first woman to edit a UK broadsheet newspaper

John Lloyd

Producer of Blackadder and Spitting Image

Ed Balls

Economist, broadcaster and former cabinet minister

Craig Brown

Author and satirist

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CULTURE

MORE AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Author Interview – Front Page TCE The author Interview

by

Helen Brown

“It is a religion that asks women to have many children and really sacrifice their bodies”

Hanna Pylväinen

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

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

Cathy Newman

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

Tessa Hadley

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

FEATURES

There’s always whisky

Miranda Seymour

Jean Rhys, literary genius and trouble alcoholic

Acts of sedition

Pauline F Kiernan

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

FILM

Poverty porn

Anne Billson

STYLE

Dressing for dinner

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

The herstory of art

Max Lunn

MUSIC

Sucking the marrow out of life

Laura Barton

CULTURE

The author Interview

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Helen Brown

“All I had ever wanted to do was write a novel. When I held the first copy, aged 42, I cried”

Emma Flint

The crime author discusses her new book Other Women

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

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