An apocalyptic hadith inspires extremists across the world. Tragically, chaos in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban will spur them on.
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 quickly became dominated by big business and government.
The standardisation of British art schools has replaced a once living tradition of artistic practice with self-justificatory faux-academese.
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 enigmatically silent.
Centuries-old romanticisation of the countryside has masked the unsanitised realities of Indian rural life.
From Austen to Alain-Fournier to Proust, the countryside is as much a venue for literary speculation as it is rural world.
Romans – like the poet Horace – tired of the relentlessness of city life and depicted the country as a venue for retreat and relaxation. But they also knew that time in the country was made all the sweeter by big city moolah and achievement.
Never be fooled by the bucolic France Profonde postcard. It exists of course, but not far away may stand the laboratory where tomorrow’s world is being imagined.
Could a real-life Jackal have pulled it off? Frederick Forsyth’s picture of prickly Anglo-French relations isn’t so far from the truth of an era when de Gaulle’s grandstanding on Europe led to frosty interactions.
Imagine if Jihad in Afghanistan became again a rallying call for Mujahideen the world over to come and defend the Taliban’s victory.
Today’s players and managers frame football as a process of pious struggle, vacillating between anguish and redemption. In the wake of Covid-19, can football maintain its self-pitying rhetoric?
Whether an inspiring portrayal of inebriation’s ‘divine madness,’ a study of alcoholic dissipation, or a controversial depiction of same-sex desire, the sculptor’s statue has divided both collectors and critics down the centuries.
Bella Ciao has been co-opted by activists and corporations the world over. Does Italy’s most famous protest song deserve a beautiful goodbye?
Billy Lee Brammer’s The Gay Place is a masterpiece, providing an insight into the imaginative world of LBJ’s America.
In Rembrandt’s ruffs, past and present are woven into linen and lace.
Derelict bandstands are a symbol of a lost age of Victorian optimism. It’s time to recapture their zeal in improving civic life.
The digital revolution has given pressed Cuban protesters confidence to shake off complacency. That ought to make the regime afraid for its survival.
Netflix show Jane the Virgin’s deep engagement with Latin American and Spanish literature and the telenovela form makes it one of the most intellectually interesting TV series in recent years.
Chamonix’s Sea of Ice, deep in the Alpes profondes, once a magnificent spectacle, has become a mere torrent of greyish stones and detritus.
Sycophancy, like most political diseases, is not new. The ancient Egyptians developed it to a fine art and its aura persists to this day.
Space entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk are recapturing the bold and individualistic spirit of America’s first astronauts, the Mercury Seven.
Engelsberg Ideas is brought to you by The Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit
Stureplan 3, SE 103 75 Stockholm, Sweden editors@engelsbergideas.com www.axsonjohnsonfoundation.org
By subscribing, you consent to us contacting you by email. You may unsubscribe at any time, and we’ll keep your personal data safe in accordance with our privacy policy.
