Ukraine
Dau is the strangest and most unsettling piece of art to come out of Russia in years
Dau is not so much a film as a document of a mass human experiment. The result is dark, brilliant…
Does Putin intend to go to war with Ukraine?
On Europe’s eastern borderlands, trouble is brewing. Two headstrong leaders — Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko —…
Britten’s War Requiem almost sounded like a masterpiece – but it’s isn’t, is it?
‘What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?’ We’ve heard a lot, lately, of the knell that tolls through the…
When trendy ideas capture the ruling elite, democracy can go hang
If social media manipulation has influenced elections, and dark money has influenced our elected representatives, then we are already on…
How to rig an election
Andrés Sepúlveda sleeps behind bombproof doors in a maximum-security prison in central Bogota, Colombia. When travelling to judicial hearings or…
Ethnic cleansing and the horrors of Buczacz
I thought I knew the history of the years 1914 to 1945: the first world war and the terrible casualties…
Huge audiences, gongs galore and Broadway awaits Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie opened at the Sheffield Crucible in February for a standard three-week run. The show is based…
A decade of famine and purges: the murderous 1930s under Stalin
He stood five feet seven in his boots — the same height as Napoleon and an inch shorter than Hitler.…
Navigating a new world
In the 1890s, when British-owned ships carried 70 per cent of all seaborne trade, legislators worried about the proportion of…
The hunger
In 1933 my aunt Lenina Bibikova was eight years old. She lived in Kharkov, Ukraine. Every morning a polished black…
Trump’s eastern front
Kiev There is no lavatory paper to be found in government buildings in Kiev. Plan ahead, locals advise, if you…
The joy of the Proms
Summer nights, hot and humid, mean just one thing — it’s Proms season again. Sore feet, sweaty armpits, queuing outside…
Why Nato is more important than the EU for Britain
The Leave campaign was right to pour scorn on David Cameron’s warning this week that Brexit could threaten Europe’s military…
Andrey Kurkov’s The Bickford Fuse is a satirical masterpiece
Whimsy, satire and deadpan humour: welcome to the world of Andrey Kurkov. If you know Kurkov’s work, The Bickford Fuse…
Whoever invented the referendum deserves a kicking
My favourite quote of the year so far comes from the author Fay Weldon. ‘If this were an all-woman society,’…
Farty, smelly and in love with Putin? You must be middle-aged
There are things that happen when you grow older — bad things, harbingers of death and decay. Past the age of…
Silent strongman Sergey Shoigu is the real force behind Russia’s military aggression
‘Crimea is ours,’ President Putin boasted last May. He was speaking on a documentary viewed by millions of Russians, and…
What’s it like to have a Nazi for a father?
This is a documentary in which three men travel across Europe together, but they’re not pleasurably interrailing, even though there…
Letters: The Church of England should apologise for abuse accusations
The C of E should apologise Sir: Peter Hitchens’s article on the allegations against the late Bishop Bell is a…
From toad in the hole to seal soup: the best new cookbooks
Timing is everything, and few cookbooks come at an apter moment than Mamushka (Mitchell Beazley, £25) by the excellently named…
Portrait of the week
Home Andrew Burnham described calls from Yvette Cooper, a rival candidate for the Labour leadership, for him to withdraw from…
Welcome to the world of Big Byz
The title of Victor Pelevin’s 2011 novel stands for ‘Special Newsreel/Universal Feature Film’. This product is made by the narrator,…
Let’s read the riot act to the kleptocrats who are buying us out
I have signed an affidavit for a hearing in the High Court stating that Janan Harb was, to my knowledge,…
If Putin comes, the Poles are waiting - a report from Nato's new frontline
Late last month, on a windswept plain near the Polish town of Zagan, the defence ministers of Poland, Germany, Norway…
Calling all British tourists — Ukraine needs you!
Kiev ‘What the hell’s going to happen to your poor country?’ I ask the man in the flea market not…
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