Notebooks

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

Sébastien Lecornu and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, France, 19 June 2023.

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Macron goes back to Gaullism

Sébastien Lecornu, France's new prime minister, belongs to a French Right that does not exist anymore: Gaullist and social minded. Can he appease his country's fractious parliament..

Agnès Poirier September 11, 2025

Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro protest against his Supreme Court trial in Sao Paulo on Sunday, September 7, 2025.

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Brazil’s moment of truth

As the trial of the country's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, reaches its final stages, Donald Trump has raised the spectre of US interference in Brazilian politics.

Stephen G. Bloom September 11, 2025

Washington delivering his inaugural address April 1789, in the old city hall, New York City.

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America’s addiction to intrigue

Bitter partisan battles over intelligence, and accusations of collusion with foreign powers, have a long history in the United States.

Jeffrey Rogg September 11, 2025

Members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) holding up flags on trucks during a military parade held in front of Tiananmen Gate on September 3, 2025 in Beijing, China.

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The politics of a military parade

From Stalin’s 1941 May Day parade in Moscow to Xi’s Tiananmen Square display, military spectacles have long been used to project power and mask vulnerability.

Peter Caddick-Adams September 10, 2025

A Baghdad street scene captured in 1955. Credit: INTERFOTO

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Journeys in modernist Baghdad

In the 1950s, monarchists and revolutionaries sought to transform Baghdad’s urban landscape, bringing the city’s ancient past into contact with futuristic modernism.

Adam Sami Kydd September 9, 2025

Royal Scots Guards military pipers playing bagpipes in kilt uniforms at Edinburgh Castle in a military ceremony, Scotland, UK.

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Iran’s strange Scottish obsession

The Islamic Republic's curious obsession with the cause of Scottish independence provides a fascinating insight into the worldview of Iran's paranoid leaders.

Rob Macaire September 8, 2025

General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Japan in 1945.

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General MacArthur, maker of postwar Japan

Douglas MacArthur's legacy remains complex – part liberator, part censor, part architect – but undeniably, he was a builder of the Japan we know today.

Iain MacGregor September 3, 2025

Painting of the Romanian Army crossing the Danube to enter Dobrogea in 1878 by Henryk Dembitzky. Credit: The Picture Art Collection

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Romania’s long return to the West

While Romania's attitude towards NATO is primarily driven by a fear of Russian aggression, it is also shaped by the country's pride in its Latin heritage, and a long tradition of l..

Mara Balasa September 2, 2025

Pro-Iranian Hezbollah supporters commemorate Ashura in Beirut, Lebanon. 6 July, 2025.

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Hezbollah is running out of options

The Lebanese Government’s plan to disarm a militarily weakened Hezbollah revives the spectre of civil conflict. The stage is set for a battle between competing visions of Lebanon's..

John Raine September 2, 2025