Notebooks

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

Audrey Rouget, played by Carolyn Farina, in Whit Stillman's Metropolitan (1990).
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Whit Stillman’s comedies of manners

Metropolitan, the American filmmaker Whit Stillman’s timeless masterpiece, is that rare and precious thing: a very entertaining comedy about virtue. Set in New York, it explores th..

Muriel Zagha June 10, 2025
Karol Nawrocki waves to supporters in Gdánsk on 18 May 2025.
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Making Poland great again

Since the fall of Communism, Poland’s elites have failed to grasp the political power of historical memory. Their neglect allows politicians like President-elect Karol Nawrocki to ..

Adam Zamoyski June 9, 2025
Thomas Mann.
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Thomas Mann’s cathedrals in prose

One of the greatest European writers, Thomas Mann, born 150 years ago, dedicated his life to the pursuit of literary form. He left a monumental legacy.

Morten Høi Jensen June 6, 2025
British munitions factory in the First World War.
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The merits of a wartime mentality

The continuing Russo-Ukrainian war and the readiness of Moscow to think and act as if it is already in a wider conflict with the West mean a war-time mentality is needed right now.

Lawrence Freedman June 5, 2025
The signing of the European Convention on Human Rights in Rome, 4 November 1950.
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Internationalism’s moral fallacies

Many internationalists believe that undermining national authority is a moral virtue. Yet international law is founded upon national agency, and cannot be sustained without the goo..

Robert Lyman June 4, 2025
Soviet poster of Leonid Brezhnev with collective farm combine-harvester drivers.
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The rise of the gerontocrats

The Soviet gerontocracy are an inspiration to ageing autocrats everywhere.

Paul Josephson June 4, 2025
Soldiers of an unmanned aerial platoon of the 113th Battalion of Ukraine’s 110th Territorial Defence Brigade launch a Vampire heavy bomber drone in Zaporizhzhia.
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Ukraine, the future of war is now

Ukraine’s strikes into Russia illustrate the historic role of surprise in battlefield success. They also test the country's fragile relationship with the fractious leadership of th..

Aaron MacLean June 3, 2025
A Ukrainian drone strikes planes deep in Russian territory.
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Ukraine’s deep strike

To execute its audacious drone attack deep in Russian territory, Ukrainian intelligence correctly identified the Russian air force’s true centre of gravity – its drone- and missile..

Peter Caddick-Adams June 2, 2025
Fan vaulting in Canterbury Cathedral.
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Alasdair MacIntyre’s philosophy for a new dark age

The message of the late philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre resonates with those seeking a way through the noise of modern culture.

Christopher Akers May 30, 2025

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