Notebooks

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

Venezuelan lawmaker Diosdado Cabello, looks at a new map of Venezuela with the Essequibo territory.
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Venezuela’s Essequibo gamble

Plagued by domestic political and economic difficulties, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has ordered the occupation of the Essequibo territory of Guyana. The threat of war now ..

Michael Reid December 13, 2023
The restoration of Notre Dame continues.
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Notre-Dame’s resurrection

The reconstruction of Notre-Dame, scheduled to be completed in a year's time, is a frequent source of wonder for Parisians.

Agnès Poirier December 13, 2023
Noël Coward in In Which we Serve, 1942.
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The broken lawnmower: Noël Coward’s greatest line?

There are more famous Noël Coward lines, but a quote from the 1942 film, In Which We Serve, might just be his best.

Oliver Soden December 11, 2023
Afghan refugees wait to register in a camp near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
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Yet another flight across the Durand Line

Pakistan’s expulsion of Afghan refugees is a ghastly new development in relations between the two countries.

Suzanne Raine December 8, 2023
David Cameron and Xi Jinping.
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Explaining the Golden Era

David Cameron's return to government as foreign secretary should prompt a reckoning with the assumptions and effects of the 'Golden Era' of UK-China relations from 2010 to 2020.

Oliver Yule-Smith December 6, 2023
Toy soldiers on a map of the Middle East.
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7 October has not changed the Middle East

Contrary to widespread belief, neither Hamas' attack nor Israel's response have shifted the fundamental dynamics of the Middle East.

Patrick Porter December 4, 2023
The legendary Irish rockstar Shane MacGowan pictured drinking and smoking at his favourite London pub Filthy MacNasty’s.
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A paean to Shane MacGowan

The late maverick joins the pantheon of balladeers and troubadours.

Max Mitchell December 1, 2023
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.
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Kissinger: a man of three centuries

Henry Kissinger's worldview was shaped by his scholarly engagement with the great European statesmen of the 19th century and his experience of the Second World War. His death marks..

Angus Reilly November 30, 2023
A man sells pins of Argentine leaders such as former President Juan Domingo Peron and his wife Eva during a May Day march in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Argentina’s post-Peronist future

The election of Javier Milei as president has shattered the traditional split between Peronism and anti-Peronism in Argentinian politics and marks a new era for the country.

Amélie Jaques-Apke November 29, 2023

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