Notebooks

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

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The upside-down world of David Lynch

In Lynch’s universe both Bedford Falls and Pottersville, Oz and Kansas exist alongside one another, always capable of bleeding into each other.

Muriel Zagha January 23, 2025

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The status quo powers strike back

For several years, revisionist powers have challenged the post-Cold War order. Now, as the second Trump administration takes office, the United States and other status quo powers a..

William Erich Ellison January 22, 2025

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Blood on the Tracks turns 50

Half a century on, Bob Dylan's pared-down masterpiece still stands apart in his catalogue, its extraordinary vitality born of the complex and competing psychological forces it some..

Mathew Lyons January 20, 2025

The Reagans waving to the crowd during the Inaugural Parade on January 20, 1981.

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Trump in the shadow of Reagan

Reagan’s legacy looms over Trump’s second inauguration ceremony. America’s incoming president is in many ways the heir to Reagan’s populist mantle, but his rhetoric lacks the sunny..

Andrew Preston January 20, 2025

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A team of rivals empowers a president

It was Abraham Lincoln who first harnessed the competing powers of political rivals in order to shape his presidency. His example should guide the statecraft of modern presidents.

David Priess and Kori Schake January 17, 2025

A still life with books by Jan Davidsz de Heem.

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Podcasts v the written word

The public's appetite for intellectual stimulation is now being met by podcasts. The risks to the written word may prove existential.

Alastair Benn January 14, 2025

A mural of an old shaman on council housing in Nuuk, Greenland.

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Greenland: Denmark’s post-colonial dilemma

Danes might be advised to strike a more sympathetic tone towards their country's largest territory, and hope that President-elect Trump’s attention shifts elsewhere.

Michael Booth January 13, 2025

A police officer aims his weapon at protesters in Maputo, Mozambique.

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Mozambique at the crossroads

Mozambique’s election crisis is part of a broader turning point in southern African politics. The zeitgeist is shifting away from the predominance of single parties linked to colon..

Mpiti Mosothoane January 10, 2025

A painting of a mother reading to her daughter.

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Literacy’s declining empire

Globally, literacy is in retreat, and with it the ability to imagine a broader reality than our own.

Alastair Benn January 9, 2025