Apocalypse now? Markets seem set on a self-fulfilling prophecy
Also in Any Other Business: Central bankers really are getting shorter; keeping power plants alive
Putin’s great game
This time he’s taking on Turkey’s President Erdogan, a ruler as ruthless as he is
Dealing with The Donald
Sixteen years ago I wrote Donald Trump’s inaugural address, as a joke. It’s not a joke any more
Big heads
Super-rich parents love the prestige they bring. The teachers who work for them are much less enthusiastic
For EU but not for US
The average Trump voter doesn’t like Congress, but would hate an expensive international parliament even more
British Columbia
The province where I grew up is just one scene from a nature documentary after another
Viewing the view
We should be more down-to-earth about the landscape and less beguiled by the picturesque, according to Anna Pavord
The heavens are falling
Clare Morrall’s dystopian vision of the future sees an isolated community — bombarded by drones and directives — barely surviving Birmingham’s flood waters
Whatever next?
Rosa Prince gives us Corbyn’s modest, decent past but shies away from speculating about a mind-boggling future
Beautiful losers
The peculiarly British tendency to glorify disaster certainly doesn’t stem from guilt about the empire, as Stephanie Barczewski insists
One fine spring day
‘Once upon a time’ — as Graham Swift’s novel opens — on Mothering Sunday 1924, a powerful and moving story was about to unfold
Putting Germany together again
Having flattened Germany in the second world war, the Allies set about rebuilding it — with the help of Marlene Dietrich, George Orwell and Stephen Spender, according to Lara Feigel
A love letter to Italy
The celebrated novelist moves from New York to Italy, undergoes a ‘trial by fire’ — or linguistic odyssey — and finally produces (in Italian) a passionate account of the experience
Escaping the Inferno
Meg Rosoff’s unhappy hero, adrift in the city, eventually finds a purpose — and possibly a partner— in life thanks mainly to his two dogs
Burrowed wisdom
In his brilliant (and slightly bonkers) memoir Being a Beast, Foster explains how a deep understanding of wild animals has helped him thrive as a human being
Brothers grim
The Berlin Film Festival used to be a place that shunned the mainstream and went instead for the tough and controversial. Today it’s become a star-studded mega-machine
Internal affairs
This small, captivating show at Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh is made up of ten melancholic paintings of great textural richness
Notes on a scandal
The golden boy is weedy with the dresses - swish, swish - and laughable with the sex. And Mark-Anthony Turnage’s score is unmemorable and prescriptive
Not a pretty sight
Where’s the charm and tenderness in Rossini’s comedy? And why on earth does David Pountney think it’s got anything to do with Downton Abbey?
Kerching, Mr Bing
Plus: anyone wanting a memorably gruesome night should buy a ticket to David Lindsay-Abaire’s The End of Longing at Hampstead Theatre
Touching the void
A pitiless, hatchet-faced film about the care industry that, in its final scenes, offers a grim reward for the foregoing 90 minutes
The write stuff
Plus: a new series of Ramblings with Clare Balding and two competitions seeking to encourage young people to listen instead of watch
In praise of affectation
A bit of silly affectation is part of growing up — and it’s less pernicious than weary cynicism, according to Dan Fox