Notebooks

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

French President Emmanuel Macron walks through the Galerie des Bustes at Versailles.

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Macron’s very French gambit

By calling parliamentary elections, will Emmanuel Macron save the constitution by drawing on a distinctively French legacy of political action, or risk the future of the republic?

Angus Brown June 11, 2024

Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands in A Room with a View (1985).

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The magic of Merchant Ivory

The unconventional backgrounds and insider-outsider credentials of the film-makers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory qualified them to chronicle, with such precision and power, E.M. ..

Muriel Zagha June 10, 2024

Supporters of the Samajwadi Party and Indian National Congress shout slogans and wave flags at an election rally, May 2024. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

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India sends Modi a message

The 2024 Indian election delivered a shock result, depriving Narendra Modi's seemingly invincible BJP of an expected majority. The prime minister will now have to temper some of hi..

Mukulika Banerjee June 6, 2024

An illustration of the Kremlin and the sinking of the Moskva, Russia's Black Sea fleet's flagship on a billboard in Odessa, Ukraine.

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Learning the right lessons from Ukraine’s naval war

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea offers both lessons and warnings about the future of naval warfare.

Joshua C. Huminski June 6, 2024

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More than just a moment: the deep roots of American populism

History tells us that economic and political populism is as quintessentially American as capitalism itself.

Samuel Gregg June 5, 2024

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attends an event in Tehran, January 2023.

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The malevolent spirit of Ebrahim Raisi

For ordinary Iranians, Ebrahim Raisi represented the banality of evil that infected the regime but he will be presented by the state as a martyr for the Islamic Republic.

Ali Ansari May 30, 2024

Old men in conversation in Puglia, Italia.

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What’s in an Italian name?

The endless Italian genius for naming things and people has found plenty of space in modern English.

Tobias Jones May 30, 2024

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Fashions fade, Cannes remains

Modish causes threatened to impinge on the integrity of this year's Cannes film festival. And yet, there were gems on offer.

Agnès Poirier May 28, 2024

Mourners hold up posters of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran, 21 May 2024.

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Iran’s sudden power vacuum

Amid a simmering conflict with Israel and longstanding confrontation with the United States, Iran faces a sudden crisis of leadership after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.

Afshon Ostovar May 24, 2024