Notebooks

notebook

OpenAI’s dual personality disorder

The tensions between Silicon Valley's commitment to hyper-capitalism and technological idealism have been made explicit by the crisis at OpenAI.

Andrew Keen November 29, 2023

notebook

Napoleon can’t conquer the silver screen

For nearly a century, filmmakers have grappled with the difficulties of telling the story of Napoleon Bonaparte on screen. Can any director truly do justice to the iconic general a..

Katherine Bayford November 28, 2023

notebook

The fight to save the trees of Paris

Every week, cherished trees disappear from the streets and gardens of Paris — and there is a growing public backlash.

Agnès Poirier November 27, 2023

notebook

Inside Mossad

Israel's foreign intelligence service has played a crucial role at key moments in the country's history. In the coming months, it may target Hamas operatives both in Gaza and furth..

Ahron Bregman November 27, 2023

notebook

Is Falstaff too large a character to bring to life?

Falstaff is, along with Macbeth, perhaps the hardest major Shakespearean role to fully inhabit.

Alexander Larman November 23, 2023

notebook

Ferdinand’s second life was the sweetest

How did the deposed and once despised Habsburg monarch manage the perfect political retirement?

Fergus Butler-Gallie November 22, 2023

notebook

Stopping the Exodus: an impossible task

The voyage in 1947 of the Exodus, a ship chartered by a Zionist militia, piled pressure on the British government to relax the limits it had imposed on Jewish immigration to Palest..

James Barr November 21, 2023

notebook

Securing Scandinavia

Finland and Sweden have woken up to the fact that, in a fragmented, destabilised world, countries need to adopt measures to guarantee ‘security of supply’. Their allies should do s..

Elisabeth Braw November 16, 2023

notebook

J.M. Coetzee’s absence without leave

The Nobel Prize winner's readers need him to aim the sharp point of his pen at the current state of South Africa, the country that drove him away.

Rob Lownie November 14, 2023