Features

The great dramatist was an Enlightenment philosopher as well as playwright. His inquiries into humanity had a political dimension

Shipping routes are opening up in the Arctic due to climate change. This is a development fraught with environmental and geopolitical risk

It is folly to treat UK race relations as totally divorced from the rest of human experience. We need to look at the larger global picture

Fears of a new Cultural Revolution are beginning to look justified as Xi Jinping advances the pace of control in China

From Piers Gaveston onwards, controversial courtiers have a long history in British politics.How unusual is Dominic Cummings?

Safety has supplanted liberty as the driving force of our political culture. This is a cul-de-sac for democracy

The unreliable narrator as autobiographer

Boris Johnson’s political stock is low. The First Minister’s could not be higher. Yet Scotland’s grip on Covid-19 has been no more sure than London’s

Clunky neologisms such as BAME obscure real ethnic differences—making it harder to address structural disadvantage and prejudice

Lockdown has provided the perfect breeding ground for corrosive conspiracy theories to flourish. Responding with mockery isn’t enough