Viking Versus Sepoy
The changing of the guard in the world of chess was achieved not by smash-and-grab play, but by herculean displays of patience
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
The Best Years of American Cinema
The greatest American movie of all time was made in 1946 and you'll never have heard of it
A History of Blood Hatred
How do racisms start? Francisco Bethencourt’s study of racial prejudices since the Crusades does its best to answer the culturally sensitive question
Good By Stealth
The media presents Israel as a pariah but its recent efforts to provide aid to Syrian refugees belies its consistently negative image
A Real Arab Spring
Israel’s thriving and very much integrated Arab population confounds the perpetual accusation that it is somehow an 'apartheid state'
Major and Mobility
John Major is wrong. Far from the current Conservative-led cabinet being overwhelmingly privately educated it is in fact the most representative in history
Floreant Drones
Whatever's killing off our bees, it isn't touching our society drones: London private members' clubs are hives of activity
Higher Thoughts
What’s happened to Radio 4's Thought for the Day? An erstwhile spiritual haven has made way for a platform for please-all secularist banalities
A Cold War Chill
'Angela Merkel's mobile phone is her instrument of power. What happens when this tool of democracy is subverted by our most important ally?'
Radio Play
Chess may not seem suited to radio, but in the Sixties the BBC broadcast special programmes featuring the world’s greatest ever players
Their Own Worst Enemies
Jonathan Schanzer’s State of Failure persuasively argues that Palestine is not a country or state but a cause with the sole intention of destroying the Jews
Liberty Here, Tyranny There
The apologetics over John Stuart Mill’s shocking attitudes towards foreigners is the only thing that lets down Georgios Varouxakis’s otherwise excellent study of the political philosopher You can make a passable case