Notebooks

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

England's Freddie Steward is shown a red card by referee Jaco Peyper during the Guinness Six Nations match at Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

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Showing technology the Red Card

Sport filtered through cameras, however precise, however well-positioned, is stripped of the suggestive qualities that make it so attractive to the human eye. It is also stripped o..

Alastair Benn March 23, 2023

Evacuees wait to board a plane at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan

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America’s Afghan reckoning

The scale and speed of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021 stunned the world — but as a recent report makes clear, the signs of impending disaster were already in place.

Katherine Bayford March 23, 2023

Restoration works of Notre Dame cathedral continue at night.

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Inside the new Notre Dame

Every end is a new beginning, particularly for the specialised artisans working against the clock to rebuild Paris’s 850-year-old Gothic cathedral.

Agnès Poirier March 20, 2023

Gin Lane - caricature by William Hogarth, circa 1750.

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Capitalism’s magic ingredient is confidence

Avarice and greed are the foundations of a prosperous society, argued the notorious Anglo-Dutch theorist, Bernard de Mandeville. But the financial system that evolved in eighteenth..

David Wootton March 16, 2023

The illustration shows a throng of people on Wall Street rushing to purchase stocks from trading houses during the Panic of 1907.

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Finance without trust: a perilous business

Banks rely upon trust more than anything else. Without it, the delicate tapestry of banking stands on nothing – and panic ensues.

Samuel Gregg March 15, 2023

The run on the Northern Rock bank in September 2007.

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When banks fail

The collapse — and bailout — of Silicon Valley Bank is part of a cycle of complacency, woven throughout banking history.

Ferdinand Mount March 15, 2023

Moldovan and Gagauz flags fly at the 'Welcome to Gagauzia' sign at border of the autonomous region of Gagauzia.

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The Kremlin has its eyes on Gagauzia

Gagauzia, one of Moldova's poorest and most pro-Russian regions, is ripe for geopolitical meddling.

Luke Coffey March 10, 2023

British poster depicting soldiers and civilians helping the war effort during the First World War

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What is the British Army for?

Recent debates over the British Army tend to fixate on equipment – from procurement headaches to its state of readiness after donating tanks to Ukraine – but the real matter to res..

William D. James March 8, 2023

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Fanfare for Ukraine

Aaron Copland’s 'Fanfare for the Common Man', composed in 1942, was dedicated to ordinary Americans' contribution to the fight against fascism. On the eightieth anniversary of its ..

Elisabeth Braw March 7, 2023