Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

French caricature of a portly Englishman, 1812.

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Donnez moi un break

Franglais can be a charming way to bridge the gap between the ever-bickering neighbours, the UK and France, but only when the franglaphone bears both sides of the channel in mind.

Agnès Poirier October 1, 2021

Lion print for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes

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In search of Narnia

Read C.S. Lewis’ children’s classics as an adult, and their mix of fantastical imagination, complex theology, and philosophical ponderings converge towards a fundamental human desi..

Marie Daouda September 30, 2021

Pedestrians walk past clocks in the financial district of Canary Wharf, London

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The march of the sovereign individuals

Co-authored by James Dale Davidson, an American financier, and William Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times, The Sovereign Individual forecasted a world of ceaseless technological..

Oliver Rhodes September 28, 2021

Resting on the Crest of a Hill by Alfred James Munnings. Credit: Geoffrey Clements/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

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The forgotten grande dame of English letters

Isabel Colegate deftly captured the style and atmosphere of the late Edwardian class in works such as 'The Shooting Party' and yet remains overlooked.

Malcolm Forbes September 24, 2021

'The Progress of Steam. A View in Regent's Park, 1831', 1828. Steam-powered coaches, horses, tricycles, including one with body like a teapot, are speeding along or blowing up and causing traffic chaos in Regent's Park, London. Aquatint after Henry Alken (1774-1851)

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Is energy the god of progress?

American historian Henry Adams' optimistic creed of progress and energy innovation foundered on technological forces unleashed in the 20th century.

Helen Thompson September 23, 2021

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Why Jihadis are drawn to Khorasan

An apocalyptic hadith inspires extremists across the world. Tragically, chaos in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban will spur them on.

Suzanne Raine September 21, 2021

People wearing VR headsets watch films during an exhibition at 'AHSPACE' immersive live broadcast base in Hefei, Anhui Province of China.

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The rise of the metaverse

The metaverse is on the way. Its utopian advocates claim that the next iteration of the internet will free us from the physical world. But Web 1.0 is a warning from history. It qui..

John B. Sheldon September 17, 2021

British visual artists (L-R) Angela Bulloch, Georgina Starr, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Gillian Wearing, who are part of the group known as the Young British Artists, photographed on 16th July, 1996.

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The strange death of the art school

The standardisation of British art schools has replaced a once living tradition of artistic practice with self-justificatory faux-academese.

Daisy Dunn September 15, 2021

A dissident student asks soldiers to go back home as crowds flooded into central Beijing 03 June 1989.

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The silence of Chinese intellectuals under Xi Jinping

Historically, there have always been great Chinese thinkers who have been bold enough to challenge the prevailing political order - but in modern China, intellectuals remain enigma..

Kerry Brown September 14, 2021