Notebooks

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

Jean-Marie Le Pen at a rally in Marseilles in 1988.

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Le Pen and France’s past, present and future

Jean-Marie Le Pen embodied and electrified fundamental divisions within French society over the history of the Second World War and the French Empire. His legacy is not going away.

Agnès Poirier January 9, 2025

Erik the Red bringing Norse settlers to Greenland.

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The long struggle for Greenland

American territorial ambitions on Greenland are nothing new. Throughout its recent history, the vast Arctic island has often been viewed by competing powers as a strategic prize an..

Paul Lay January 8, 2025

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A monarch’s message of unity

When Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf addressed his nation at Christmas, his message was not a political one. It was about keeping a country united and resilient in dangerous times.

Elisabeth Braw January 6, 2025

Still from A Room With a View (1985) starring Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands.

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The decline and fall of period drama

Merchant Ivory Productions allowed a generation to dream that another world had once existed, infinitely more beautiful, infinitely more civilised. Their body of work remains unriv..

Alexandra Wilson January 6, 2025

Still from the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol.

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Remembering the true spirit of Christmas

Memory, and the need for communal memories, is at the very heart of Christmas.

Fergus Butler-Gallie December 24, 2024

A major rally takes place in Aleppo on 'Victory Friday' to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad.

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Why Assad’s fall took the world by surprise

The fall of Assad’s regime in Syria caught the world off guard, adding to a pattern of surprises in US policy toward the country and offering critical lessons for the future of the..

Alexander Bick December 20, 2024

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What is sprezzatura?

Sprezzatura has many meanings, and yet defies definition. It's at once a certain nonchalance, virtue in harmony, a moral rhythm, an ineffable quality and yet instantly recognisable..

Jaspreet Singh Boparai December 20, 2024

A 2018 poster in the city of Rastan shows Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin as allies.

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Russia’s Cold War Redux strategy for the Middle East lies in ruins

Russia's recent engagement with Syria had marked continuities with the Soviet Union's Middle East strategy.

Ibrahim Al-Marashi December 18, 2024

Emmanuel Macron walks alone during a ceremony for late French politician and admiral, Philippe de Gaulle, the son of Charles de Gaulle

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The last days of the Fifth Republic

The Fifth Republic, forged by de Gaulle to stabilise France, teeters on the brink of collapse as its fundamental contradictions put French politics at an impasse.

Angus Brown December 13, 2024