Cyprus
My 40-year feud with Niall Ferguson
September makes serious demands of your Best life columnist, what with book launches, birthdays and the birth of Mona Leda,…
Putin and Erdogan are playing with fire in the Balkans and the Caucasus
As Russia and Turkey jostle for influence in Europe’s overlooked corners, regional tensions begin to resemble those in the build-up to the Great War
All good holidays start with a border checkpoint
What a treat it was to escape to Cyprus for some sun and a last-minute mini-break. I left the builder…
Revenge of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys
French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating rose by six points last week. It will likely continue to climb following his…
The Akrotiri attack has weakened Britain’s position in Cyprus
When RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was targeted in an attempted drone attack on Monday, it didn’t just leave the British government…
The roots of conflict
The Island of Missing Trees feels like a strange title until you realise how hard Elif Shafak makes trees work…
Foreign bodies galore: the best new crime fiction
Ghosts of the Past by Marco Vichi (Hodder, £18.99) is unashamedly nostalgic in tone. The title could not be more…
Portrait of the week
Home In the Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, kept talking of the ‘next generation’. He outlined cuts…
Sixty years on
The book of the year has long been a favoured genre in popular history, and is a commonplace today. While…
Portrait of the week
Home The all-party Foreign Affairs Committee urged David Cameron, the Prime Minister, not to press ahead with a Commons vote…
Coming up for air
Jenny McCartney talks to the celebrated photojournalist about war, guilt and Aylan
An old wound takes its toll at last
This is probably the most self-indulgent column I’ve written. I hope not to make a habit of it. It’s an…
