Armenian Artist
‘To become world chess champion is to join the immortals. Yet some who have reached the top have been less lionised than others.’
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Beyond the Myth of Mandela
As Jacob Zuma takes over as South Africa’s president, the ‘Beloved Country’ needs to break with idolatry
Marx’s Capitalist
The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels by Tristram Hunt
Fatal Attraction of Tasty Food
Human bodies are simply not built to consume the unhealthy diet we eat nowadays
Taking Research for Granted
British universities need to become more like America’s if they want to keep the best scientists
Denying Israel’s Deniers
The British and Israeli novelists Howard Jacobson and A.B. Yehoshua discuss the new wave of anti-Jewish rhetoric with Standpoint editor Daniel Johnson
BBC Kremlin Service
The Foreign Office must realise that cuts at the BBC Russian Service have turned it into an arm of the Kremlin propaganda machine
From One Oxymoron to Another
The think-tank Demos has switched from New Labour to ‘Progressive Conservatism’. Philip Blond has journeyed from ‘Radical Orthodoxy’ to ‘Red Toryism’. Now the two have joined forces and both Right and Left
A Tale of Sadness and Forgetting
The Czech novelist Milan Kundera is accused of informing on an anti-communist as a student. Is there any truth in the charge?
Why Matter Really Matters
Firing neutrons under Japan may explain why the universe exists
Helping Africa Break Free
Aid to Africa is the problem, not the solution, according to Dambisa Moyo, Zambian-born economist and author of Dead Aid. She discusses the issue with Richard Dowden, executive director of the Royal
Annie v. Elvis
When celebrities get involved in politics, they should look to Elvis rather than Annie Lennox In January, Annie Lennox released a statement on the Gaza conflict, saying that as a mother and