Notebooks

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

Allegorical sculpture depicting Europe on the façade of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London, United Kingdom.

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Europe’s lost reason of state

At the heart of Europe’s crisis is a neglect of the common good and the prerogatives of the state.

Jack Dickens August 3, 2026

Commander Franco, head of the third of Volunteers, giving orders to his Captains for the assault on Ras Medua, November 1921. Credit: Album/ Archivo ABC

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Franco’s formative years in Spanish Morocco

It was in the Army of Africa that the future dictator fashioned his ill-defined vision of Spain's grandeur, and of his own destiny to salvage it.

Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri August 3, 2026

Foreign and domestic officials pay their respects before the coffins of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Tehran on 3 July. Credit: UPI

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Why the Gulf states won’t side with America

The war in Iran is likely to accelerate a trend already underway in the Gulf: multi-alignment and strategic hedging.

Yoel Guzansky and Jesse R. Weinberg July 31, 2026

British Army soldiers head out on patrol during exercise Steadfast Dart 25 in Romania

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How America’s allies can preserve the West

Faced with a more transactional and unilateral presidency in Washington, western nations are forging new partnerships in an effort to steward the US-led world order through a time ..

William D. James July 31, 2026

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Is Europe’s future northern?

The South is still beautiful, but likely to suffer severely in a century of climate extremes. It is time the continent rediscovered its northern soul.

Alastair Benn July 30, 2026