Notebooks

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

A Medieval famine scene. Credit: The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo.

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A very medieval cost of living crisis

The many disasters that beset Europe in the fourteenth century, following its golden age of expansion, innovation and economic growth, are surprisingly familiar today, with echoes ..

Laurie Purnell Prynn November 8, 2022

Made in Taiwan printed on the surface of a circuit board.

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How Taiwan won the semiconductor race

This small island state in the northern Pacific dominates the global chip industry — what explains Taiwan's success?

Michael Reilly November 3, 2022

The Ghosts of 'all the Talents' taking their last voyage, James Gillray's caricature of the ministry's break-up. Lord Howick rows and St. Vincent steers

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Chequered history of ministries of all the talents

Ministries of All the Talents have rarely lived up to their promise.

Harry Cluff October 28, 2022

A still form A Matter of Life and Death, 1946. Credit: Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo.

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French and British cinema in wartime: subtlety against the odds

Despite the constraints of the Second World War, both French and British filmmakers created brilliant films, shaped by contrasting experiences of the conflict.

Muriel Zagha October 27, 2022

A woman seen taking a TikTok video in front of a destroyed Russian tank in Kyiv.

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Democratised and declassified: the era of social media war is here

The implications of democratised intelligence analysis, as seen in Ukraine, will shape future conflicts.

David V. Gioe & Ken Stolworthy October 24, 2022

Woman looking at Paris metro map. Credit: INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo.

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Ticket to ride in Paris

The métro paper ticket will disappear from Parisians’ lives in 14 months’ time, by January 2025. An ubiquitous presence in daily life, the métro ticket had a multi-purpose existenc..

Agnès Poirier October 21, 2022

The new development at Battersea Power Station reflected in the windows of an adjacent skyscraper. Credit: Paul Hayward / Alamy Stock Photo.

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Brick is best

Beautifully made and well-chosen brick seems to be undergoing a quiet renaissance at the moment — as shown by the remarkable revival of Battersea Power Station.

Clive Aslet October 20, 2022

A man holds a Russian flag during a demonstration of supporters of Burkina Faso's self-declared new leader Ibrahim Traore, in Ouagadougou. Moscow is believed to have been involved in the coup.

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What is Russia doing in Africa?

Compared to China, Russia’s activity in Africa is relatively modest. Nevertheless, recent diplomatic, naval and military projects illuminate Moscow’s mental maps, and reveal how Ru..

Andrew Monaghan October 19, 2022

Danish woman at a writing desk with a vase of flowers, Christian Valdemar Clausen.

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The historian’s dilemma

History writing is a solitary existence and far removed from the dynamic world of news reporting. And yet the line between the two is often unclear. Historians such as Thucydides d..

Daisy Dunn October 18, 2022