Notebooks

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

Plan of the Battle of Bosworth towards the end of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487).
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The Wars of the Roses and the problem with private armies

In autocracies, no one can be safely relied upon, as the medieval English conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster demonstrates.

Francis Young June 26, 2023
Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his army fighting their way into Rome in 82 B.C.
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Marching on Rome

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted coup draws parallels with the great civic conflicts of ancient Rome and the reign of terror that followed.

Armand D'Angour June 26, 2023
Address by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in response to a coup attempt.
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Prigozhin’s coup: the beginning of the end for Putin

Putin has only himself to blame for the mess he has got himself into.

Rodric Braithwaite June 25, 2023
Taksim Square in Istanbul from above.
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The fight for the heart of Istanbul

Now under President Erdogan’s control, the symbolic weight of the city’s central square has never been more obvious. What was once a gathering place for dissenters and a cosmopolit..

Hannah Lucinda Smith June 20, 2023
Thousands of mourners packed the area around the Duomo di Milano in Milan to bid farewell to Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian media mogul and former prime minister who died at the age of 86.
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The Vault of Heaven: Silvio Berlusconi’s final resting place

His personal life may have been splashed across newspaper front pages for all to see, but mystery surrounds the ‘tomb of a pharaoh’ the controversial ex-prime minister has been int..

Guido G. Beduschi June 19, 2023
Statue of JS Bach
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When JS Bach came to Leipzig

His superiors may have worried about his ‘weird tone’, but three centuries after the composer’s most astonishingly productive period, his contribution to music remains immense, wit..

Elisabeth Braw June 16, 2023
Cormac McCarthy
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The weirdness of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian is McCarthy’s masterpiece and one of the most compellingly disturbing novels ever written.

Alexander Larman June 16, 2023
Vintage Travel poster - British Airways.
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Airports have changed – for the worse

Flying has become such an unpleasant experience that it is hard to believe airports were once tourist attractions.

Bryan Appleyard June 15, 2023
Frederick the Great playing the flute as C.P.E. Bach accompanies on the keyboard.
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The Berlin Bach

Arguably more famous than his acclaimed father during their lifetimes, the inventive and unorthodox Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach was instrumental in shifting music towards a modern, s..

Andrea Valentino June 13, 2023

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