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Understanding the boy who became Islamic State’s chief executioner – and his...
British-born "Jihadi John" became one of the most iconic figures in Islamic State's propaganda output. But how did he become a terrorist - and what do we know about his victims? Of all the images...
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As the plane descends, I'm reminded that humanity won’t always rule this...
There have been times when I’ve felt sick to the stomach at what is being done worldwide by “people” - but the world is moving on a longer timescale than ours. It’s a strange feeling, as the plane...
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Why do white working class people turn to the far right?
Hsiao-Hung Pai's Angry White People asks what draws people to organisations such as the English Defence League - and finds a long-felt disaffection. In an attempt to identify the roots of the...
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Tories say one thing and do another on tax avoidance
Cameron's government is undoing Labour's good work, says Seema Malhotra. After five days of partial-truths and evasion – following the publication of the Panama Papers and constant media and political...
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Joan Collins shot me an anxious look and demanded: “Tell me what to say”
It hadn’t dawned on me that some actors expect their every public utterance to be scripted, and I felt a strange wave of sympathy. On a crisp spring morning in 1999, I was outside the Park Lane Hotel...
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For Two Thousand Years is an incendiary confrontation of politics in interwar...
Today's reader of Mihail Sebastian's disturbing, existential exploration of alienation and self-loathing might benefit from footnotes - but the book still speaks to today's discontents. Mihail...
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The David Cameron tax row is really about Brexit
Why did the prime minister's tax affairs, first revealed in 2012, become a huge news story four years later? One word: Europe. On Sunday night at the Kings Place headquarters of the Guardian,...
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Thirteen unlucky reasons why Spurs have failed to win the League - again
A rubbish league, the Southern media, and. . . Mourinho? It’s 15 May and Leicester have won the Premier League. Spurs have collapsed – same old story. Fortunately, we know who or what to blame. Spurs...
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No vaping at Pizza Express – apparently it’s company policy
It's my policy, though, to argue about it. Or at least ask for "Hitler" on my coffee cup. I was going to write about the Fray Bentos individual steak and kidney pudding this week, which isn’t so much...
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Transport's favourite myth: why we will never own driverless cars
It is often claimed the driverless car revolution is imminent. But all the hype obscures more urgent problems. It seems that we are on the verge of a driverless car revolution. George Osborne recently...
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Publishing his tax affairs won't be enough to get David Cameron off the hook
The Prime Minister is in a bad spot, though next week may bring him breathing space. After enduring the worst week of his political career, David Cameron’s decision to release a summary of his tax...
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London's housing crisis shows why we need a Labour Mayor
Sadiq Khan will provide homes across the capital for all Londoners. There’s a housing crisis in London. Affecting, and infecting, every segment of our society. Whether you’re a young graduate trying...
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Did the Cameron family avoid inheritance tax?
A little two-step takes the Prime Minister into the realm of meaningful tax avoidance. To avoid tax you have to do a thing which cuts your tax bill. Fail to do that thing and your tax bill is higher....
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The Panama scandal is a stain on our country
Our tax system relies on the public having confidence that everyone is treated the same. The Panama Papers leak has confirmed the public’s worst suspicions of tax havens and the wealthy elite’s...
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What the short stories of Helen Foster and Ali Smith say about social equality
Both writers were benificiaries of the post-war consensus. Now, Cockfosters and Public Library both make the case - in different ways - for access to reading. Helen Simpson, born in 1959, and Ali...
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Diamonds in the snow: the bizarre beauty of Polish director Jerzy...
The Kinoteka Polish Film Festival screens the highlights of the eclectic director’s work, which is as diverse as his life has been. The 14th Kinoteka Polish Film Festival is already underway,...
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How does it feel to be a Muslim in France today?
As Europe faces the aftermath of another terrorist attack, anti-Islam rhetoric amplifies. Muslims in France share how it feels to be persecuted. In his temporary mosque on an industrial estate on the...
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Boris Akunin: what it means to be a Georgian
As a third-generation Muscovite, the author Grigory Chkhartishvili – also known by his pen name, Boris Akunin – didn’t feel very Georgian. But Vladimir Putin changed all that… For a long time being a...
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The unbelievable story of Matthias Buchinger, 18th century polymath, magician...
Ricky Jay, himself a great magician, has produced a remarkable portrait of an extraordinary man – Buchinger was just 29 inches tall, and was born without hands or feet. Ricky Jay is one of the...
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At last, I’ve located the source of all the travails that afflict me: I’m a...
Oh look, there’s the latest edition of the New Statesman, and I dutifully buy my weekly copy. It is the last moment of internal peace I know all Thursday. Thursday morning and the body clock has...
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