Notebooks

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

The British Commander-in-Chief, General Percival, signing surrender terms in Singapore on 15 February 15, 1942.

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NATO’s 1937 moment

In 1937, British officers tried – and failed – to challenge orthodox assumptions about the defence of Singapore. Their experience offers a warning for how NATO should think about R..

Andrew Monaghan December 18, 2025

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Philip Larkin’s arrival, undeceived

The poet's breakthrough collection, The Less Deceived, anticipated the sexual freedoms of the 1960s while pre-emptively rejecting its promises.

Jeremy Wikeley December 17, 2025

The signing of the Locarno Pact. Credit: Piemags

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Locarno: the peace that was not to be

The Locarno Pact, in its naive optimism, seems typical of the 1920s. Its architects knew mankind could not afford to revisit the carnage of the Great War, yet it failed to stop an ..

Eliot Wilson December 16, 2025

Giant portraits of Hafiz and Bashar al-Assad by the Hamidiye Souq in Damascus, prior to 2011.

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The Assads’ reign of terror

The former Syrian regime was an Arab North Korea that father then son ruled with an iron fist.

James Snell December 15, 2025

Artwork found on a Japanese Temple of a noblewoman writing

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Confessions of a Japanese noblewoman

A chance discovery in a Tokyo library uncovered a medieval memoir by Lady Nijō, a glimpse into the tradition of female autobiography in Heian and Kamakura Japan.

Katherine Harvey December 15, 2025

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Britain’s dangerous defence vacuum

Unless the British government can find money to invest in the country's security, the UK's recent Strategic Defence Review will be a fantasy rather than military reality.

Robert Lyman December 10, 2025

The burning of the old Opera House, Paris, 1873.

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The post-cultural state

A cultural malaise has quietly eroded the West’s confidence in its creativity, reshaping how art is funded, judged, and understood.

Lola Salem December 10, 2025

Donald Trump salutes a Navy Honour Guard aboard the USS Harry S. Truman on 5 October, 2025.

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Trump leaves complacent Europe most vulnerable since 1939

President Trump's new National Security Strategy is incoherent and egotistical. Yet Europe's elites must bear responsibility for leaving their continent in a state of vulnerability..

Antony Beevor December 9, 2025

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Éric Rohmer’s Christmas classic for adults

The French filmmaker's My Night at Maud’s is a festive film like no other.

Guy Stagg December 8, 2025