Notebooks

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

Installation of the Making of the Ukrainian Nation Museum including Andriy Melnyk.

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The ghosts of Ukraine’s past

President Zelensky's awarding of state honours to a Ukrainian nationalist has angered politicians across Poland, a crucial ally in the war effort.

Owen Matthews June 3, 2026

Republican People's Party (CHP) supporters waving an Atatürk flag at an Ekrem Imamoglu rally held in Istanbul on 25 May 2023.

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Why Turkey’s opposition is losing the culture war

The embattled Turkish Republican People's Party – the inheritors of Atatürk's legacy – must confront a difficult lesson from their country's recent past: that the state can only be..

Halil Karaveli June 1, 2026

Gustave Caillebotte's Portrait of a Man Writing in His Study, 1885.

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The case against AI: writing isn’t meant to be easy

The encroachment of AI into literature is catastrophic for writers, not because of how bad its outputs are or how unoriginal it makes us, but because of what it does to the practic..

Alexander Lee June 1, 2026

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese President To Lam wave in Hanoi on April 14, 2025.

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The risks and rewards of Vietnam’s strongman era

While Vietnam's political system appears to be moving closer to a Chinese model, the country has also exploited opportunities to build stronger economic ties with the United States..

Imran Shamsunahar May 29, 2026

A man searches for a book outside a shop in Cecil Court.

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The new bibliomaniacs

Rare book collecting is booming. Young people raised in the digital age are seeking tangible connections to the past.

Kristine Roome May 28, 2026

A woman walks in front of anti-American propaganda in Tehran.

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Has Iran won the war by not losing?

Iran's survival strategy has leveraged a form of warfare grounded in geo-economic calculation.

Ibrahim Al-Marashi and Tanya Goudsouzian May 27, 2026

A poster for the 2026 edition of the Cannes film festival.

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Cannes and the language of exile

The 2026 edition of the Cannes film festival suggests that Europe’s defining cultural figure may no longer be a rooted national artist but a divided intellectual speaking in severa..

Agnès Poirier May 23, 2026

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Putin at the court of the Celestial Emperor

The two great land empires of Asia have long had a relationship based on asymmetric dependency and rivalry. Putin's homage to Xi Jinping's court is a reversion to an ancient type.

Owen Matthews May 22, 2026

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The politics of provocative opera

Discarding canonical operas because they might discomfort modern audiences does a disservice to the complexities of art.

Alexandra Wilson May 22, 2026