Notebooks

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

Grey's speeches, like here to the Commons in 1914

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Grey matters

Beneath the stiff upper lip of Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary in 1914, lay a passion for politics and for love.

Richard Bassett December 11, 2020

Greyfriars, the remains of a 13th-century Franciscan priory at Dunwich.

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Dunwich’s very English apocalypse

Dunwich, once a bustling medieval city, was swept under the waves in a series of storms. Little now remains of this English Atlantis.

Fergus Butler-Gallie December 9, 2020

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Investigating Heraclitean fire

The mystery of the role of fire in Heraclitus's aphorisms has beguiled and delighted generations of readers.

Harry Cluff December 4, 2020

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City-states are back

With globalism disrupted by Covid, cities offer a tried and tested way of binding people together.

Tobias Jones December 1, 2020

Actor Mark Harandon beckons to a lonely stage at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall, England, this summer.

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Missing the theatre of everyday life

While celebrity has ruined many a talent, the rest of us miss those small public performances in the pub or theatre, which make life that little bit more exciting.

Jenny McCartney November 27, 2020

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Singing Byrd in a cage

Tudor composer William Byrd concealed his true faith in music – and his yearning for a return to better times resonates with us today in the chimes of the chapel choir.

Francesca Peacock November 27, 2020