Opinion

The Chesham and Amersham by-election results show what can be achieved from tactical voting

With over 84% of Japan still waiting for their first jab, why are the Olympic Games being held there? Is the sporting world, and compliant politicians, playing fast and loose with the pandemic? The European football tournament across 11 countries, the Copa América in Brazil, the fast-approaching Tokyo Olympics, might all be seen as brave defiance […]

In the 1970s, Italian film-makers forgot spaghetti westerns and made Poliziotteschi – violent detective thrillers that echoed the likes of Dirty Harry.., and their own crisis at home Here is a hypothesis for you: if you’re looking for art that explains the mood of times past, you should look not at the acclaimed, serious-minded and […]

New columnist PETER BARRON is a former Newsnight editor turned tech executive, who has been renovating a barn near Fuentes de León in remote southern Extremadura. From there, he will be writing a regular diary on Spanish life, cuisine and culture A couple of years ago, we turned up for Corpus Christi wearing shorts. It was a […]

Françoise Hardy helped create French youth culture. Now, as she nears death, she is starting a new national debate about ageing and euthanasia Françoise Hardy’s son would like it to be known that his mother – a pillar and adornment of French pop music for almost 60 years – is still alive. A few days ago, Hardy, […]

Eighty years ago this week Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, launching the most decisive clash of the Second World War. JONATHAN DIMBLEBY, author of a new book on the campaign, explains what was at stake and the consequences we live with today Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in the early hours of June 22, 1941, was the […]

John Blankenstein was back-page news when he took charge of England’s first match at the 1992 Euros – but it wasn’t his refereeing the newspapers were interested in… When England faced Denmark in their opening match of the 1992 Euros, many tabloid-reading fans knew as much about the referee as they did about the Danes. […]

Writers have long been drawn to islands. Few have managed to express – and satisfy – that yearning like Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins  “If I could wish something good for someone, I would wish for them an island with no address.” When Tove Jansson wrote those words sitting in her Helsinki apartment in 1962, the tiny cottage on […]

The hunt for renegade soldier Jürgen Conings may have ended, but the country’s quest for answers goes on On Sunday a small-town Belgian mayor, out on a bike ride near the Dutch border, and a local hunter, did what hundreds of soldiers and police had been unable to achieve for more than a month. They found Jürgen Conings, the […]

On a trip to Batley ahead of its forthcoming by-election, ROBYN VINTER finds little enthusiasm for the Tories, as they eye up another piece of the Red Wall, but not much more for Labour either, as it faces a familiar foe

PETER TRUDGILL takes on the linguistic purists once again for their attachment to words’ ‘true’ meanings There are some pedantic people around who reckon that it is wrong to use the word aggravate to mean ‘irritate, vex’ or ‘annoy’ – as in “please stop doing that, it’s very aggravating!” This is probably the most common usage of the word […]

Has Marine Le Pen changed her politics, or is it that France has shifted to the right? Respectable France is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, again. In less than a year the country could have a far-right government. The fear is not new. The Le Pen family –Jean Marie and then more his user-friendly […]

The Lib Dems' by-election victory was morale-boosting for opponents of the government, but the most significant action is needed elsewhere

Attack adverts showing Green party candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock as Moses with a list of 10 commandments have caused uproar in Germany Readers of largely sober and serious German newspapers were met with some surprising content recently: Full-page adverts dominated by a photo of the Green Party candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, dressed as […]

Mitch Benn looks at Dido Harding's attempt to become chief executive of the NHS in another look back at the week in politics

The food industry is predicting a nightmare for British customers, with price rises and empty shelves caused by Brexit It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain as customers digest mixed news about Brexit’s impact on food. The downside is that your weekly shop is going to cost more; the […]

Will the loss of Simon Rattle be London’s musical gain? UK music critics have been gnashing their teeth at the news that Simon Rattle will leave the music directorship of the London Symphony Orchestra and beetle off to Bavaria. Heading to Germany to flee underfunding in the homeland is a tradition for money-conscious European musicians, […]

Marseille’s music is as self-assured as the city itself, says SOPHIA DEBOICK  Marseille is a proud and ambitious city. Founded by the Greeks around 600BC, France’s second city’s ancient origins have been no bar to striving for the modern, and it is known for its ground-breaking 20th and 21st century architecture. Le Corbusier’s revolutionary La […]

Turkey has been gripped by a scandal involving a mafia boss on the run making extraordinary allegations about the country's political elite

The anniversary of the Brexit referendum will barely register a ripple in Europe, where Britain was once seen as a place of dynamism, excitement and promise It is obviously a very subjective generalisation, but no European nation really cares that much about how they are being perceived by the rest of Europe. In the UK, […]

He was sitting on one of the iron-framed and wooden-bottomed chairs there are dotted about beneath the chestnut trees lining the Esplanade des Feuillants, and as I recall – although, I concede with such a brief encounter, my memory may well have embellished – he was tilted back on its rear legs. His then-wife and […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on an award for translated fiction that is gradually growing in stature, and its very worthy winner While most of the annual book award talk is naturally focused on the Booker Prize for Fiction there are other gongs whose gentler tones occasionally penetrate the literary din. The Women’s Prize for Fiction grows in […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the pacifist campaigner Bertha von Suttner, a woman not intimidated by anyone she met, even the most powerful men in the world

PETER TRUDGILL on how bottlers became butlers There are about 45,000 people in Britain who bear the surname Butler. In comparison, there are a quarter of million Browns and half a million Smiths. But 45,000 still seems to be rather a high number if we assume that all of our contemporary Butlers are descended from men who […]

Since the start of the Syrian civil war 10 years ago, Europe has taken in more than one million refugees. So what has been the impact on the continent?

Nowhere are the consequences of Brexit being felt more acutely than in Northern Ireland, where the tensions are continuing to rise and the full ramifications are yet to play out Five years ago this month Arlene Foster was in France to cheer on Northern Ireland’s heroics in Euros 2016. Just months into her stint as first […]

Kate Winslet is brilliant in Mare Of Easttown – but then so was Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley, the BBC show from which Mare has clearly taken a few pointers Does this sound familiar? You’re sat watching television. It’s a crime drama starring an actress you’ve never really disliked but never gone out of your […]

Parisians are angry at the state of their city, from the rubbish in the streets to unsightly cycling schemes and fears of crime. Long-term resident JOHN LICHFIELD asks what hope there is for perhaps the greatest city of all When I visited Paris for the first time in July 1964, aged 14, I was shocked. The […]