The awful calamity of Stalin being a music lover
The dictator obsessed over new recordings and was a frequent visitor to the Bolshoi; but he treated even the greatest musicians arbitrarily, consigning many to the Gulag for no reason
The next best thing to visiting a really clever friend in New York
Vivian Gornick’s memoir of life in the city in the 1960s and 1970s is rich in anecdote and dialogues with waspish friends and neighbours
Time is running out to tackle the dangers posed by AI
While we can all appreciate the benefits of AI, it is developing faster than anyone imagined, with no consensus on what constitutes acceptable risk
The golden days of Greenwich Village
David Browne celebrates the vitality of the Village in its 1960s heyday, when clubs were subterranean crucibles where jazz, folk, blues and poetry swirled in a potent brew
The horror of Hungary in the second world war
Having suffered heavy casualties fighting the Soviets as part of the Axis alliance, the country was then occupied by the Nazis, which led to wholesale carnage during the siege of Budapest in 1945
A mole in the CIA: The Seventh Floor, by David McCloskey, reviewed
McCloskey’s latest thriller is well written and tautly paced, but we feel so little connection with the suspect agents that the eventual unmasking of the mole is an anticlimax
Husted and Moody to replace Vance and Rubio in the Senate
Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted of Ohio will replace Vice President-elect J.D. Vance in the Senate, with Florida attorney general Ashley…
Will TikTok have a second life?
TikTok is hoping that 2025 can be its year – but what comes next for the social media company is truly…
Biden opens the jailhouse door
Joe Biden is not going gently into that dark night, politically or cognitively. He is going down with large, bold…
Why Netanyahu won’t let the Gaza hostage deal fall through
President-elect Donald Trump is poised to claim his first major foreign policy achievement just days before his inauguration on Monday.…
Will the SNP come to its senses on North Sea oil?
Drill, baby drill. The mood on Net Zero is changing in the Scottish parliament where a majority of MSPs have…
Will the IMF regret its backing for Labour’s Budget?
International investors may be jittery about the UK’s future, but the International Monetary Fund appears to be more optimistic. The…
