The Power of Protests
Recent protests in China are part of a long tradition of student activism, but results are often lacklustre.
Volume 73 Issue 2 February 2023
On the Spot: Rodric Braithwaite
‘Great leaders are much less in control of events than people imagine.’
Dead Letters
Correspondence from the members of the doomed expedition to find the Northwest Passage.
Vile Verse and Desperate Doggerel
Was the worst poet in history a hidden visionary?
What is a ‘Just War’?
On the 20th anniversary of the worldwide protest against the Iraq War in February 2003, we ask: is there such a thing as ‘just war’ or is there just war?
Charles Darwin’s Rocks of Ages
On his early travels across the world it was geology that struck Charles Darwin’s interest, not biology.
A Dynasty is Founded
On 8 February 1644, Li Zicheng, a rebel warlord, proclaimed the foundation of his own Shun dynasty.
‘Guru to the World’ by Ruth Harris review
Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda by Ruth Harris uncovers the Hindu guru’s life of epiphanies and contradictions.
Ringing the Changes
The first-known secular bell-ringing society was founded on 2 February 1604.
A Perfect Storm
The Bethnal Green tube station disaster, 80 years on.