Notebooks

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Beppe Fenoglio: A Complex Centenary

The Italian writer came into his own during the Second World War– but his ideas about the English-speaking world don’t necessarily connect to Western realities – or audiences – t..

Tobias Jones August 15, 2022

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Working From Anywhere — the holiday never stops

The Covid pandemic turned Working From Home into a lifestyle and a talking point — but Working From Anywhere has become popular too and has meant that working life has melded with ..

Agnès Poirier August 12, 2022

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Conducting is Finland’s soft superpower

Since the 1800s, Finns have turned to music as an expression of national identity and defiance — today that expression has come full circle.

Elisabeth Braw August 10, 2022

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Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan — for Xi, it’s personal

Xi Jinping's petulant reaction to Nancy Pelosi's visit seems likely only to encourage more international backing for Taiwan and reinforce demands for formal independence.

Michael Reilly August 5, 2022

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Total football — from catenaccio to gegenpressing it’s about openness to ideas

Footballing philosophies are central to the national mythologies of the cultures that produce them.

Josh Mcloughlin August 3, 2022

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Putin’s land war — cautionary lessons from Ancient Greece

Although his army was far larger and far better equipped than that of his opponents, the Persian King Xerxes' invasion of Greece was a disaster. Putin and other would be invaders o..

John Raine July 29, 2022

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The enemy within — the Russians filling Ukrainian homes

It’s a pattern repeated in every conflict — displaced people permanently lose their homes to occupiers. But statistics and ‘integration initiatives’ barely hint at the raw human st..

Elisabeth Braw July 27, 2022

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HIMARS permit Ukrainians to fight how they know best — a strategy of corrosion

American High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems are wreaking havoc on Russian forces in Ukraine but they are only one part of the battlefield's complicated tableau.

Mick Ryan July 21, 2022

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Why we don’t remember pandemics

While wars are endlessly memorialised in the West, the non-narrative and morally complex nature of a pandemic mean it is rare to come across a memorial to its victims, much less a ..

Mark Honigsbaum July 19, 2022