Notebooks

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

notebook

The centrist as saviour

Rory Stewart joins a long line of figures who portray enlightened technocracy as the centre-ground solution for British politics.

Angus Reilly September 14, 2023

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire at Russian positions from a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer in Kharkiv region, Ukraine.

notebook

Ukraine and the West: an alliance by proxy

The conflict in Ukraine is an example of a new informal turn in the way alliances such as NATO fight wars.

Andrew Mumford September 13, 2023

notebook

Folke Hero

The assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte seventy-five years ago, robbed the world of one of its great humanitarians, and did early and lasting damage to the Middle East peace pr..

Elisabeth Braw September 12, 2023

Start of the public horse at the Palio de Siena.

notebook

Among the Italians

David Gilmour’s The Pursuit of Italy was published in 2011. It retains its allure as one of the finest evocations of Italophilia.

Bruce Anderson September 12, 2023

An Attic black-figured lekythos from the 6th century B.C. depicting the escape from Cyclops in the Odyssey.

notebook

The first Great Escape

Reports that a prisoner escaped Wandsworth jail on the underside of a food truck is bound to raise an echo with classicists and readers of ancient Greek literature. It might be the..

Armand D'Angour September 8, 2023

Christopher Coker at the Engelsberg Seminar

notebook

Christopher Coker, 1953-2023

Christopher Coker, a formidable scholar of international relations and supporter of Engelsberg Ideas, has died at the age of 70.

Engelsberg Ideas September 7, 2023

An ‘The End Is Nigh’ apocalyptic sign is seen near Westminster.

notebook

Polycrisis? What polycrisis?

Polycrisis is the word of the moment. But how much does this sense of so many catastrophes happening all at once depend on the distorting dynamics of social media?

Alastair Benn September 5, 2023