Jonathan Mirsky
Barmy Weather
Flipping the world on its axis, moon dwellers and giant canons? A new translation of a lost Jules Verne masterpiece of course
Still Haunted by the Ghost of Mao
Despite China’s prosperity, the People’s Republic remains in the grip of the monstrous ideology of its founder
The Long Shadow of Tiananmen
An eye-witness of the massacre says its malign legacy persists 20 years on
China’s Rural Nightmare
As the global economic crisis hits home, Beijing faces what the country’s rulers have always feared – a peasants’ revolt
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past