News and reviews

Auden featured in the New Statesman’s Best Non-Fiction of 2026

Added on 14/01/2026

Ours is the era of Everybody’s Autobiography, and 2026 will not disappoint with a bonanza of memoirs by politicians, actors and rock celebrities. Mostly they amount to solipsistic spouting.

Enver Hoxha featured in the New Statesman’s Best Non-Fiction of 2026

Added on 13/01/2026

Ours is the era of Everybody’s Autobiography, and 2026 will not disappoint with a bonanza of memoirs by politicians, actors and rock celebrities. Mostly they amount to solipsistic spouting.

Elizabeth Buchanan writes in the Spectator

Added on 12/01/2026

I recently wrote a book countenancing the idea that the United States could buy Greenland, and I have received some very interesting responses. Some are perplexed at the utility of an Australian assessment of Greenland geostrategy (I’m from Canberra); others have admonished me personally for ‘willing into reality’ US ownership of Greenland.

Unfrozen reviewed in the Spectator

Added on 11/01/2026

Donald Trump is playing hemispheric monopoly. Depending on what day of the week it is, the President’s focus alternates between Venezuela, Canada, the Panama canal – and for the last twelve months or so, Greenland.

Cory Doctorow writes in the Guardian

Added on 10/01/2026

It’s been 25 years since I started working for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an American nonprofit dedicated to preserving and promoting human rights on the internet. I’ve found myself in dozens of countries working with activists, politicians and civil servants to untangle the complex technical questions raised by the internet, and every one of our discussions ended in the same place.

Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring reviewed in the TLS

Added on 09/01/2026

When, in the early 1950s, Birds Eye tested a new frozen fish product for the British market, the cod fish finger was only ever intended as a bland control option. The experiment’s star prototype was the “Herring Savoury” – a breaded herring fillet, marketed with the slogan “No bones, no waste, no smell, no fuss”.

Can Europe Survive? reviewed in the TLS

Added on 09/01/2026

From every point of view, the present circumstances of Europe’s leading powers seem grave. This is true of the business outlook, politics, security threats and – though it is better placed than many – the region’s preparedness for the coming technological transformations.

Into the Weeds reviewed in the Observer

Added on 09/01/2026

My father, a playwright, says that his choice of profession can be parsed as humbly as considering the impulse of a child to showboat on a bicycle screaming, “Look at me!” towards a distracted mother.

Troublemaker reviewed in the Daily Mail

Added on 09/01/2026

A rum lot, the Mitfords. Head of the clan, Lord Redesdale, was chairman of the House of Lords’ Drains Committee and kept a pet mongoose.

Can Europe Survive? featured in the Observer

Added on 04/01/2026

As more and more people become aware of the catastrophe that is Brexit, with – as I reported last time – even former chancellor George Osborne suggesting re-entry to the customs union, the dilatory nature of the government’s “realignment” efforts is becoming embarrassing.

Rahila Gupta writes in the Guardian

Added on 31/12/2025

In 2025, the world that had been opened up by women has often seemed to be closing in. The forces behind the rollback of abortion rights in Donald Trump’s US are attempting to do the same in the UK. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has doubled down on its attacks on women and girls.

The Master of Contradictions reviewed in the Guardian

Added on 31/12/2025

In a 1924 letter to André Gide, Thomas Mann said he would soon be sending along a copy of his new novel, The Magic Mountain. “But I assure you that I do not in the least expect you to read it,” he wrote. “It is a highly problematical and ‘German’ work, and of such monstrous dimensions that I know perfectly well it won’t do for the rest of Europe.”