India
China vs America: the struggle for south-east Asia
Can Biden’s America contain China?
Power jab: the rise of vaccine diplomacy
An international power tussle over vaccines is under way
Just not cricket: the BBC is failing the Test
Michael Vaughan might disagree but — putting aside 2005 and all that — was there a more thrilling and satisfying…
So good I watched it twice: Netflix's The White Tiger reviewed
The White Tiger is adapted from the Booker-prize winning novel (2008) by Aravind Adiga. It is directed by Ramin Bahrani…
Is Indian cricket no longer cricket?
There is nothing in world sport, ‘nothing in the history of the human race’, Ramachandra Guha modestly reckons, that can…
A romcom with very little com: BBC1’s Black Narcissus reviewed
In Black Narcissus, based on the novel by Rumer Godden, five nuns set off for a remote Himalayan palace in…
The truth about Burma’s ‘imprisoned princess’
It’s as ignorant to demonise Aung San Suu Kyi as it was to idolise her
Spectacular and mind-expanding: Tantra at the British Museum reviewed
A great temple of the goddess Tara can be found at Tarapith in West Bengal. But her true abode, in…
Sea change: China has its sights on the Bay of Bengal
China has its sights on the Bay of Bengal
Sumptuous and very promising: A Suitable Boy reviewed
Nobody could argue that Andrew Davies isn’t up for a challenge. He’d also surely be a shoo-in for Monty Python’s…
How Britain can tame China
Britain has a critical role to play in taming China
China is testing the limits of India – and the world
China is testing the limits of India – and the world
Absorbing and meticulously researched play about Partition: Drawing the Line reviewed
Theatres have taken to the internet like never before. Recorded performances are being made available over the web, many for…
The forgotten masterpieces of Indian art
As late as the end of the 18th century, only a handful of Europeans had ever seen the legendary Mughal…
Smoking opium with Mr Nazim – and a gecko
‘I used to go to India for a few months every year. A couple of times we even drove there.…
The terror of the witches of modern India
When I landed in Delhi at the height of the monsoon, the excitement in the city was palpable. The Indian…
Algeria reminds us that the current of colonisation doesn’t always run just one way
As you glide in to land at the airport outside Algiers, the landscape resembles that of Tuscany: a coastal plain…
A single man of no fortune must be in want of a job: younger sons in Jane Austen’s England
Readers of Jane Austen gain a clear idea of the task facing the daughters of gentlemen. They need to secure…
From Hong Kong to Kashmir, a new authoritarianism is on the rise
Frank Johnson, editor of The Spectator until cruelly sacked to make way for Boris Johnson, never wasted ideas. He liked…
So sloooooooow: Photograph reviewed
Ritesh Batra had a smash hit with his gentle romance The Lunchbox (2013) and then made a couple of less…
Shameless and corny: ITV’s Beecham House reviewed
ITV’s new drama Beecham House is set in late 18th-century India where the British and French were still battling it…
Police raids and chanting intruders: The strange things that happen to me in the early hours
Our upstairs neighbours are not the sort of people you want to have run-ins with. They have regular moped deliveries…
It’s not just cricket: India vs Pakistan is the greatest rivalry in world sport
There are plenty of much-anticipated contests in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. But nothing to compare with this Sunday’s match…
Delhi notebook: Nuclear war is not around the corner
India is not preparing for war, but picking up the newspapers in Delhi you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.…
Who’s really to blame for Pakistan’s terror attacks?
Islamabad Six months into Imran Khan’s premiership and the new Pakistan prime minister has been plunged into his first major…