The state of emergency​ that François Hollande declared on 14 November, the day after 130 people were killed and more than 300 wounded by the attackers in Paris, is still in force....

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Driving through a Postcard: In New Hampshire

Christian Lorentzen, 3 March 2016

The​ Whitestone Bridge crosses the East River, connecting Queens to the south-eastern tip of the Bronx. To the west are the ten jails of Rikers Island and to the east are the 18 holes of the...

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Is it a condition on the acceptability of warfare that those who kill should put their lives on the line?

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Robin Hood in a Time of Austerity

James Meek, 18 February 2016

The wealthiest and most powerful in Europe, Australasia and North America have turned the Robin Hood myth to their advantage.

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Nightwork in Chengdu: China’s Capitalism

Kenneth Pomeranz, 18 February 2016

The reasons​ for China’s economic boom remain disputed. Chinese economic policy has changed repeatedly while high growth rates have continued. Commentators are clearer on what...

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Ahmad Tibi, a long-standing Arab member of the Knesset, once remarked that ‘Israel is democratic towards Jews, and Jewish towards Arabs.’

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Short Cuts: Julian Assange

Daniel Soar, 18 February 2016

This is​ a story about two bad boys. One, Julian Assange, has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than three years. The other, the artist Ai Weiwei, has done his time in...

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At the Movies: ‘The Big Short’

Michael Wood, 18 February 2016

Hindsight​ is a fine thing, and hindsight about a bit of foresight is even better when it comes to storytelling. There was a time when nobody knew anything about what was happening, whatever it...

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Enemy Citizens

Amjad Iraqi, 4 February 2016

Two Arab teenagers​ who had been arrested at an anti-government protest were waiting to see a lawyer at a police station in Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel. Their shirts were torn and...

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Short Cuts: In Cologne

Thomas Meaney, 4 February 2016

It takes​ a moment to get your bearings at anti-asylum demonstrations in Germany these days. It still seems strange to see neo-Nazis and Pegida protesters waving French flags. The other day I...

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The Inequality Problem

Ed Miliband, 4 February 2016

What we need to do is clear: avert the possibility of greater inequality that technological revolution carries with it, and instead share out the benefits of the higher productivity it will bring.

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Who are the spongers now?

Stefan Collini, 21 January 2016

If students will set aside vague, old-fashioned notions of getting an education, and focus instead on finding the least expensive course that will get them the highest-paying job, then the government...

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I am French

Jeremy Harding, 21 January 2016

In January 2012 François Hollande, socialist candidate for the presidency, announced on the campaign trail that his ‘true’ enemy was finance capitalism.

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Be Spartans! Thucydides

James Romm, 21 January 2016

Thucydides​ may well have been the first Western author to address himself to posterity. His forerunners – Homer and Herodotus, principally – show no awareness of a readership...

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Diary: In Brussels

Lee Gillette, 7 January 2016

It seems​ long ago. The city on lockdown, the raids, the cat tweets. Vestiges remain, some of them new. A green army lorry was parked at the weekly market across the street. It hadn’t...

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Military to Military

Seymour M. Hersh, 7 January 2016

Barack Obama’s repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office – and that there are ‘moderate’ rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him – has in recent years provoked quiet...

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Miracle on Fleet Street: Operation Elveden

Martin Hickman, 7 January 2016

On​ 11 December, the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, announced that all outstanding cases against Mirror Group journalists for phone hacking would be dropped, and that no...

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They were all foreigners: ‘SPQR’

Michael Kulikowski, 7 January 2016

Neil Tennant​ described his run of hits between ‘It’s a Sin’ and ‘Heart’ as the Pet Shop Boys’ imperial phase, when they owned the charts and charmed the...

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