Will colonialism’s psychological legacy ever cease to be a source of pain?
The British Empire’s abiding bequest has not been infrastructure and administrative systems but a memory of repression that continues to pass down through generations, says Simukai Chiguda
A sinister strangeness: City Like Water, by Dorothy Tse, reviewed
A beloved native city is in a state of flux, slipping from normal into nightmare as freedom vanishes, time collapses and people throw themselves from rooftops
Is it better to be reasonable or rational?
As well as being flexible and open-minded, reasonable people are concerned about what’s of true value – whereas the rational may simply be interested in their own tangible gains
The history of Moscow was one of extreme violence from the start
The Mongol massacres of 1238 were followed by reigns of terror, plague, fire, revolution and purges – as well as constant hostility to Kyiv
Thoughtful fantasy: Travel Light, by Naomi Mitchison, reviewed
Borrowing from Arthuriana, Norse sagas, fairy tales and legends, Mitchison’s novel modulates midway between magic and realism
W.H. Auden’s virtuosity masked careful craftsmanship
Poetry came so easily to Auden that at times he had consciously to ‘keep the diction and rhythm within a hairsbreadth of prose without becoming it’
A revival of Alan Bennett’s early work is long overdue
Until the archive is made available, the diaries will have to do. But some superb dramas from the past century are sadly missed
Five things we learned this week
First of all, it’s farewell to Chuck Norris, the action movie star of such Hollywood classics (Generous – Ed.) as…
Has Giorgia Meloni really turned against Donald Trump?
I often think that the dissemination of news is like a game of Chinese Whispers. Giorgia Meloni, for instance, has…
Ukraine’s allies are falling away
As Ukraine emerges battered but unbowed from the third and most terrible winter of the war against Russia, its people…
Iran and America’s new protection racket
“Whoever rules the waves rules the world” – Alfred Thayer Mahan. Would Donald Trump have attacked Iran on February 28…
Could Britain help unblock the Strait of Hormuz?
It has not required advanced training in detecting nuance or reading between the lines in recent days to understand that…
Anthony Albanese’s mosque heckling is a humiliation
Ever since the Hamas atrocities of October 2023, it’s not been easy being Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese. Following the…
Ramadan in Iran made my life a misery
I still remember the last Ramadan I spent in Iran. My mother and I wanted to take a walk in…
Anti-vax parents shouldn’t get benefits
Like all parents, I find the prospect and experience of my child getting sick very unpleasant. Well, I say like…
Decriminalising late abortions isn’t progressive
Last week, the body of an 18-day old baby girl was found in Westminster, in desperately sad circumstances. The baby’s…
Britain’s borrowing splurge is not sustainable
After a record tax take and surplus in January, normal service has resumed. Britain experienced its second-largest February borrowing splurge…
Is the disagreement between Israel and the US over striking Iran’s gas fields real?
As the war approaches the end of its third week, US and Israeli strikes inside Iran continue to intensify and…
Israel can’t assassinate its way to victory over Iran
The killing of the Iranian senior security official Ali Larijani this week is the most significant ‘targeted assassination’ undertaken since…
Could Iranian drones bomb Britain?
One night in 1909, in Peterborough, a police constable named Kettle looked up and saw ‘a strange cigar-shaped craft passing over…
Labour cares more about itself than Britain
While many people have been dissecting the power struggles and growing fissures within the Labour party, it might instead be…
Why did the authorities turn a blind eye to the alleged rape of a Berlin schoolgirl?
A 16-year-old schoolgirl was allegedly raped in the garden of a state-funded youth centre in Berlin-Neukölln last November. It was…
Nick Timothy isn’t the bad guy in the row over mass Muslim prayer
Would you rather live in a society where a man is free to criticise religious practices or one where such…
