Notebooks

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

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What if the Baltic states had resisted Stalin?

Finland's Winter War has become a national legend, while the Baltic states' surrender to Stalin in 1940 is remembered as a humiliation. But the story of Baltic submission is a myth..

Gordon F. Sander September 24, 2026

··· Original Film Title: I, CLAUDIUS-TV. English Title: I, CLAUDIUS-TV. Film Director: HERBERT WISE. Year: 1976. Stars: SIAN PHILLIPS

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The rise and fall of Rome’s first family

Fifty years on, 'I, Claudius' remains a startling account of power, lust and statecraft.

Paul Lay September 23, 2026

The cover of John Coltrane's 'Blue Train'.

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Coltrane, the acceptable face of the avant-garde

John Coltrane was a spiritual searcher whose shimmering, joyful music pushed jazz to its limits.

Max Mitchell September 23, 2026

The first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee, established under the Mecca Agreement, on 31 August, 2026.

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The Middle East’s coalitions of convenience

The Mecca Agreement could work as part of a web of narrower, overlapping alliances better suited to the region than any grand alliance.

Ibrahim Al-Marashi and Tanya Goudsouzian September 22, 2026

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The absurd theatre of Russia’s choice-free election

The only anti-war party was struck off the ballot and online votes were counted by mysterious means. In Russia's latest exercise in democracy, the ruling party's landslide was neve..

Egor Sokolov September 22, 2026

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Proust’s quarrel with ‘accessible’ art

For Proust, serious art assumes its audience can acquire capacities it does not yet possess.

Lola Salem September 21, 2026

The Swedish Social Democrat party leader Magdalena Andersson.

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How Sweden’s Social Democrats survived in the capital of capital

The once-dominant centre-left party has just recorded its worst result in more than a century, but its relative endurance owes much to a pragmatic accommodation with markets.

Rikard Westerberg September 17, 2026