The Stem Cell Wars are Over
Thanks to a breakthrough, human embryos need not be sacrificed in the cause of science
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Prague: Diary
‘The post-1989 temptation in Prague has been two-fold. The first has been to legislate the totalitarian past out of existence, the second has been to copy the liberal West blindly at a
A Blind Eye to Stalin
Soviet Constructivism is coming to town in the (emotionless) shape of an exhibition at Tate Britain
All Human Life is Here
The Arabian Nights translated by Malcolm C. Lyons with Ursula Lyons, introduced and annotated by Robert Irwi
Amoral Equivalence
Beyond Terror and Martyrdom by Gilles KepelThe Case Against Israel’s Enemies by Alan Dershowitz
Cycles of Violence
The Armies by Evelio Rosero, translated by Anne McLean
Back to the Feelgood Sitcom
The comedy of self-recognition invites us to laugh gently at ourselves, rather than despise others
At My Wit’s End
"The wittiest writer alive" finds it hard to live up to his title
Bearhugged by Uncle Vlad
Germany's fawning attitude towards Putin stems from a belief that Russia is the nearest thing it has to a colony
A Novel Way to Treat a Writer
I have been inundated with emails from GCSE and A-level students who want me to spoonfeed answers on their set texts
China’s Rural Nightmare
As the global economic crisis hits home, Beijing faces what the country’s rulers have always feared – a peasants’ revolt The waves from the subprime disaster have reached China, where the bottom
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
You want it, you deserve it! That's the misleading message of a thousand self-help guides to instant bliss