Don’t rule out a second referendum
And the next Conservative government is likely to campaign for Brexit
Will Labour convict me of thought crime?
Now I have a chance to apologise for daring to suggest that any Muslim, anywhere, could ever be accused of anti-Semitism
Obama’s last great battle is in the bathroom
The logic of trans bathroom rights is driving us towards unisex facilities. Which would be a great pity
What’s making Remain campaigners so tetchy?
When you’re the odds-on favourite with the weight of the global elite behind you, you ought to be magnanimous
Despite rumours to the contrary, the high-speed loco has left the drawing board
Also in Any Other Business: oil prices, the remaking of Icap and the fate of the Filofax
To a Turkish president
There was a young fellow from Ankara Who was a terrific wankera Till he sowed his wild oats With the…
Poles apart
The country’s politics are far more complex – and less right-wing – than outsiders make out
Labour’s England problem
The impulse to deride patriotism reflects the party’s distance from many core voters
Brazil Notebook
Ipanema Notebook: as the Olympics loom large and the first female president is impeached, women are sidelined everywhere
Laws that changed the world
Before the Nuremberg Trials, neither genocide nor crimes against humanity were recognised concepts. In his moving East West Street, Philippe Sands describes their origins (within his own family) and their inspiration
Recent children’s books
Witchcraft, murder and some unusually grotesque monsters are on offer — from Martin Stewart, Kenneth Oppel, Francesca Simon, Robin Stevens and others
Wishful thinking
Deirdre Nansen McCloskey sees the spread of liberal ideas as responsible for the world’s increasing riches. So how does China fit the theory?
Dante’s egomania
Dante’s wife Gemma was not the shrew of legend, and may even have been the recipient of one of his most moving Canzone, according to Marco Santagata’s indispensible biography of the poet
Strategies for seduction
Far from being a mere sex manual, its devious strategies for seduction are rooted in politics and spirituality, according to Wendy Doniger
The cryonics game
Zero K, his novel of euthanasia, cryonics and eternal life on earth, looks less like science fiction by the hour
Wars on drugs
Most soldiers are addicts, according to Lukasz Kamienski: even first world war combatants were permanently high on cocaine
Elizabeth alone
In a striking portrait of Elizabeth in her later years, John Guy shows that, even before the Armada, the Queen was beginning to lose her grip and her popularity
Pride, prejudice, celebrity…
Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld’s delightful pastiche of Pride and Prejudice set in contemporary Cincinnati, is this summer’s undoubted blockbuster
