Notebooks

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In search of Timbuktu

Once at the heart of great empires, the West African city has long loomed large in the imaginations of European explorers, both as a shining beacon of civilisation and a pitiful sy..

William Gourlay June 17, 2026

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Dumas’ philosophy of hope

Alexandre Dumas' 'The Count of Monte Cristo' remains the great novel of hope, as a recent revival shows.

Alastair Benn June 17, 2026

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Why reviving Stalin’s Arctic canal is a strategic prize for Russia

Russian strategists have called for expanding the Belomorkanal, the Soviet relic linking the Arctic and the Baltic, into a route that could bypass some of the world's major trading..

Brigita Van den Houta June 16, 2026

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Hockney’s art of looking

Seen through the Bradford-born artist's eyes, the world will always be endlessly beautiful.

Cath Pound June 16, 2026

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The genius of Miles Davis

Essential reading, viewing, and listening from the EI editors.

Paul Lay June 10, 2026

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Tyre: a city in the sea

The heritage of Tyre, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, is under threat in the latest phase of the conflict in South Lebanon.

Katherine Pangonis June 9, 2026

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Erdogan’s coup is complete

The Turkish president has pacified his country's political opposition, bringing about the culmination point of two decades of pragmatic authoritarianism.

Hannah Lucinda Smith June 8, 2026

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The statecraft of the steppe

Russia's geopolitics has been shaped by centuries of dealing with both the settled communities of the west and the nomadic peoples of the steppe to its east and south.

David Chaffetz June 8, 2026

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Eastern European success is no happy accident

The reception of Bulgaria's Eurovision win shows how western assumptions still cannot accommodate success in Eastern Europe.

Juliette Bretan June 4, 2026