Notebooks

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

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All hail the mandarin collar

The mandarin collar proves that simplicity really is the ultimate form of sophistication. It is to men’s fashion what Hemingway’s prose is to literature: lean, spare, lethally effi..

Theo Zenou February 12, 2024

Valerii Zaluzhnyi listens to Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a ceremony marking the Day of Ukrainian Statehood on Mykhailivska Square, July 28, 2023.

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Why Zelenskyy fired Zaluzhnyi

The Ukrainian president will be hoping that just as his selection of Valerii Zaluzhnyi as commander-in-chief in 2021 helped save Ukraine in 2022, the selection of Oleksandr Syrskyi..

Mick Ryan February 9, 2024

Jussi Vatanen and Alma Poysti in Fallen Leaves.

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Cinematic journeys in old-time Finland

In Aki Kaurismäki’s constructed reality, Finland's Old World is not only remembered but also, beguilingly, regenerated.

Muriel Zagha February 7, 2024

A debate on protectionist tariffs that would lead to the South Carolina nullification crisis in 1833.

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The conflict between states and the US federal government is nothing new

A controversial legal theory known as 'nullification', as old as the US constitution itself, lies at the heart of an ongoing battle between Texas and the federal government over th..

Angus Brown February 5, 2024

A poster for the film, The Brain That Wouldn't Die.

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Neuralink and Elon Musk’s quest to own the future

Elon Musk's new brain implant, Neuralink, has been sold as a way of helping people with various ailments and disabilities. But is he moving too fast?

Bryan Appleyard February 2, 2024

Babylonian clay tablet with geometrical problems.

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How numbers came to Europe

The modern use of numbers is the result of a complex process that can be traced back to the ancient Near East, via India and the Arab world.

Mark Ronan February 1, 2024

Toby Jones and Isabella Rossellini in Infamous, 2006.

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Truman Capote’s next act

Truman Capote often seemed more comfortable pretending to be characters rather than being himself. Recent television and film portrayals, however, mean he can now be assessed cooll..

Alexander Larman January 31, 2024

A meeting of the US National Security Council during the Six-Day War, June 1967.

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How LBJ forged the US-Israel alliance

The special relationship between the United States and Israel was cemented by the support offered by Lyndon B. Johnson throughout the sixties.

Ronan Mainprize January 22, 2024

The border between Iran and Pakistan in Taftan, Baluchistan. Credit: Xinhua / Alamy Stock Photo

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Iran and Pakistan’s shared crisis in Baluchistan

Pakistan and Iran are both engaged in a struggle against separatist militants in the shared region of Baluchistan. Recent airstrikes in each other's territory have brought the nati..

Suzanne Raine January 18, 2024