From Russia, With Erudition
Mikhail Shishkin's new novel — the first to arrive in English — is ambitious, complicated and protean. And brilliant
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
A Novelist With Ice In His Heart
J.M. Coetzee is a curiously chilly author and his Kafkaesque new novel is a parable about the writer's place in a world ruled by cold rationalism
The Few Who Rule The Many
Alan Ryan’s colossal new history of political thought is an ambitious but engaging piece of scholarship
Dirty Old Mensch
'"You could certainly fill a dirndl," the elder statesman said, before taking her hand, kissing it and propositioning her'
Barracked by Obama’s Oratory
'In the gap where arguments and examples should be, the President invoked God, attacked the Republicans and invoked spectacle'
Siberia: Shamans, Spies and the Secret Police
'It was then that it hit me: I was being interrogated by the FSB. It was only then I began to see how terrified the locals were'
Bush V. the Appeasers
The once derided, now unmentionable George W. Bush shames the Obama Administration in their respective attempts to promote peace in the Middle East
Taliban Tourists
The US army's "catch and release programme" in Afghanistan puts allied troops in grave danger and is destabalising in the long term.
A Bee in his Bonnet
Richard Dawkins cannot grasp the distinction between knowledge and wisdom. This puts him at war not only with religion, but the entire tradition of Western philosophy
Made in China
A 108-metre-high Eiffel tower, "Venice Water Town and "Thames Town"? It's the Middle Kingdom's new craze for architectural replicas
Call More Midwives
Since the inauguration of the NHS, governments have increasingly paid lip service to midwives. We must not let this precious asset be further marginalised
Default Lines
An arcane deal for the UK to write off a chunk of Argentina's debt in exchange for an end to squabbling over the Falklands was turned down by the British government. It