Notebooks

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

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Robert Fico’s reckoning

The assassination attempt on Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, represents the nadir of long-brewing tensions in Slovak politics and society.

Daniela Richterova May 22, 2024

Soviet propaganda poster celebrating the Warsaw Pact.

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The Warsaw Pact’s forgotten legacy

Curiously, the Soviet Union's counterpart to NATO, though long dead, has contributed to the effort to aid Ukraine.

Elisabeth Braw May 21, 2024

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Hong Kong’s secret world of spies

The strange case of three men charged with spying for Hong Kong is the latest case in the city's rich history of spies, surveillance and repression.

Michael Sheridan May 20, 2024

Roman marble sculpture bust of the Emperor Tiberius.

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Did Tiberius have a grand strategy?

Tiberius, Augustus' successor as emperor of Rome, is best-known for the excesses of his personal life. But it is the traditional challenges he faced as ruler – and his responses to..

Peter Stothard May 14, 2024

The reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris.

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The bells, the bells

The resurrection of Notre-Dame de Paris continues apace. Its symbolic new bells are close to completion.

Agnès Poirier May 13, 2024

The chorus of women in a performance of Euripides' The Bacchae, 1982.

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The madness of crowds

The sense of belonging that comes with following a multitude can blind crowds to rational debate and reason.

Armand D'Angour May 13, 2024

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Celebrating a century of the red telephone box

The red telephone box has joined the policeman’s helmet, the Brigade of Guards, the red post box and the 1980s punk rocker on the King’s Road as a signifier of Britain's national i..

Clive Aslet May 8, 2024