Ukraine
Silent strongman Sergey Shoigu is the real force behind Russia’s military aggression
Sergey Shoigu is the real force behind Putin’s military aggression
Sins of the fathers
This is a documentary in which three men travel across Europe together, but they’re not pleasurably interrailing, even though there…
The best new cook books include recipes for Toad-in-the-hole, braised Pilot Whale and seal soup
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…
Reality games
The title of Victor Pelevin’s 2011 novel stands for ‘Special Newsreel/Universal Feature Film’. This product is made by the narrator,…
High life
I have signed an affidavit for a hearing in the High Court stating that Janan Harb was, to my knowledge,…
Watching the next war
Nato’s beefed-up military exercises are impressive – and ominous
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…
Portrait of the week
Home The British economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, the slowest quarterly growth for…
The roots of the matter
British people buy £43 million worth of human hair a year. So who’s selling?
The empire-builders
For Nato and the EU as much as for Putin, Ukraine is a question not of virtue but of power and land
Notes from a ceasefire
Ukraine’s war goes on – in some places now, and soon everywhere
Portrait of the week
Home Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Conservative foreign secretary, resigned as chairman of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee and promised…
Portrait of the week
Home Party leaders mercilessly launched 100 days of campaigning before the general election on 7 May. David Cameron, the Conservative…
Portrait of the week
Home More than 1,100 imams and Islamic leaders received a letter from Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, and Lord Ahmad…
Back to the front
Germans are beginning to recognise that they will not always be able to stay out of military conflicts
Travels in Nowhere Land
Transnistria is not an area well-served by travel literature or, really, literature of any kind. The insubstantial-seeming post-Soviet sandwich-filling between…
Moscow calling
Russia Today’s mission to subvert the West from your living room
Russia falling
Will Putin’s people still love him when the money dries up? He’s about to find out
Portrait of a romantic psychopath
If Eduard Limonov, the subject of Emmanuel Carrère’s utterly engrossing biographical ‘novel’, hadn’t invented himself, Carrère would have had to…
Portrait of the week
Home The last British combat troops turned over Camp Bastion in Helmand to Afghan forces and withdrew from Afghanistan after…
Bear market
The West will have to drop sanctions on Russia – or face another global economic crash
Long life
I don’t think I can remember a time when there have been so many scares about. They come at us…
Letter from Donetsk
For what is technically peacetime, there’s a lot of shelling going on round here. Donetsk airport is still held by…




























