Behind the Times

Forty years of opening and reform persuaded a lot of people that the Chinese are not really communists. But modern China was modelled on the USSR, and its leaders want to revert to their Leninist roots.

Columbine marked the beginning of a new era of high-profile mass shootings in the US. Was the attack the inevitable outcome of lax controls and a culture of gun glorification?

Reforms to divorce law inevitably prompt moral panic as they did in Victorian England. It has not yet proven to be justified.

ASEAN was founded to promote peace between the nations of Southeast Asia. Incapable of moving with the times, what is the point of it?

In January 1944 the Daily Mail became the first transoceanic newspaper, having transformed the relationship between politics, the press and the people. How powerful is it really?

The British Council was founded to help the world better understand Britain and to fight fascism. As times changed, so did its remit.

Members of the House of Lords are traditionally prohibited from giving up their seats. What if a move to the Commons becomes a political necessity?

As new crimes are committed, new laws must be written to punish them. When it comes to crimes committed by states like Putin’s Russia, who decides?

Adipurush, a controversial Bollywood film, has sparked anger in Nepal. For small states with big neighbours, details matter.

How should we view the worrying rise of protesters using symbols of the Holocaust to legitimise their cause?