Notebooks

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Mitsuko Uchida’s divine Beethoven

The great virtuoso gives a near-definitive performance of Beethoven's three final piano sonatas.

Paul Lay July 29, 2026

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The lost magic of the fountain pen

The fountain pen is among the most personal of our creative technologies. Its retreat from daily life is a tragedy.

Benjamin Rhode July 29, 2026

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The rise and rise of Gustav Mahler

A few decades ago, the strange sounds and emotions of Mahler's music were a rare treat. Now they are almost routine.

Richard Bratby July 24, 2026

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The solitude of Barbara

France's great melancholic singer deserves an audience beyond the francophone world.

Paul Lay July 22, 2026

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Rioplatense football’s death drive

Argentina's World Cup campaign was a study in self-sabotage, one with a long literary pedigree.

Andreas Campomar July 22, 2026

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Adenauer, the German Disraeli

The chancellor who rebuilt West Germany after the Second World War showed, like Benjamin Disraeli before him, how a conservative party at ease with modernity can be a stabilising f..

Lukas Schmelter July 22, 2026

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Against the convenient city

Convenience is remaking urban life in its own image. But a city worth living in is one where you have to rub along with other people.

Alastair Benn July 21, 2026

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The first Manchesterism meant free trade

Britain's new prime minister could find inspiration in the free-trade radicals of the 19th-century Manchester School, and in liberalism's forgotten economic potential.

Max Skjönsberg July 20, 2026

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Did Homer dream of androids?

The Iliad is full of self-driving machines and androids with minds of their own. The ancient world's dream of intelligence reveals very human desires.

David Lloyd Dusenbury July 17, 2026