Notebooks

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

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attend the signing ceremony of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in Mecca on August 7, 2026.

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Two axes of a new Middle East

A Pakistan-Saudi-Turkey defence pact and a growing India-Israel-UAE alignment are binding the security of the Middle East to that of the Indian subcontinent.

Ved Shinde August 14, 2026

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The high summer of Finnish art

In the summer of 1893, three Finnish artists painted their masterpieces in a moment of national awakening for a people still under the yoke of the Russian Empire.

Gordon F. Sander August 14, 2026

Cerebral activity replaced by a mechanical process.

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Resisting the seductions of AI fluency

Depending on large language models to generate smooth, plausible prose subtly degrades a writer's capacity to develop a voice of their own.

Alastair Benn August 13, 2026

Famous Soviet classical pianist Sviatoslav Richter performing, USSR, 1970s.

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The profound elegance of Haydn’s piano sonatas

A 1987 performance by the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter reveals Haydn's exquisite, often overlooked piano sonatas.

Paul Lay August 12, 2026

A painting illustrating a scene from the war in the Vendée.

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Victor Hugo’s 1793

The valedictory novel of Victor Hugo, newly translated into English, recounts the Terror and traces its legacy down the generations. It shows why the French still argue about the m..

Boyd Tonkin August 12, 2026

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Powell and Pressburger’s eternal England

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1944 film 'A Canterbury Tale' is a meditation on Englishness that transcends its wartime-propaganda origins to become one of cinema's most b..

Guy Stagg August 11, 2026

A painting of Otto von Bismarck in military uniform with a giant Prussian eagle above him.

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Kissinger’s debt to Bismarck

For the master of 20th-century realpolitik, Klemens von Metternich and Otto von Bismarck – two titans of 19th-century diplomacy – were ultimately tragic figures whose triumphs sowe..

Sam Spound August 10, 2026

The ASML booth at the 6th CIIE in Shanghai, China on 6 November 2023.

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ASML and the West’s technology dilemma

Imposing restrictions on tech exports to China may prove an effective geo-economic tool in the short term, but could spur Beijing towards innovation that strengthens its own AI and..

Duncan Weldon August 7, 2026

Monica Vitti in Michelangelo Antonioni's l'Avventura. Credit: Entertainment Pictures

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Antonioni’s adventures with Monica

Michelangelo Antonioni's film 'L'Avventura', a classic study of modernity's moral coldness, found its supreme embodiment not in an abstraction but in an actress: the enigmatic Moni..

Pratinav Anil August 6, 2026