Trapped: The Grenfell Tower Story
A powerful and moving piece describing the horror of the Grenfell Tower fire through the experiences of a firefighter and a resident who survived the night.
The Long, Knotty, World-Spanning Story of String
The discovery of a spectacular 4,000 year old archaeological site in Egypt is the starting point for the history of the humble rope – “indispensable…for any civilization”.
Cuba: Fidel Castro’s Record of Repression
Some perhaps interesting context comes from a Human Rights Watch analysis of Fidel Castro’s regime.
Who are the new jihadis?
The author analyses information available about terrorist attackers today and evaluates the theory that they are “violent nihilists who adopt Islam, rather than religious fundamentalists who turn to violence”.
Revenge of the Tabloids
British tabloid newspapers were thought by many to be in irreversible decline due to falling print circulation and repeated scandals, yet they have had their enduring influence dramatically underlined by events in 2016.
Xenu’s Paradox: The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard and the Making of Scientology
L. Ron Hubbard’s journey from science fiction pulp novelist to Scientology founder is well trodden – but this article finds fresh insight into it nevertheless.
The legend of the Legion
A profile of the French Foreign Legion, staffed primarily by foreign nationals as its name suggests, and with a modern day reputation for going into harm’s way as an elite unit. Its history is more diverse, particularly its complex relationship with the French state, perhaps best exemplified by the involvement of some of their number in an attempted coup against Charles De Gaulle’s government in 1961.
Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking
A look at the new credit scoring tools available in China, made possible by deep integration of services around a small handful of companies, and reaching into almost every part of daily life. As one user succinctly puts it – “If your friends are all high-score people, it’s good for you. If you have some bad-credit people as friends, it’s not nice.”