Can Venezuela Be Saved?
A profile of the Venezuelan political dissident Leopoldo Lopez, looking at his response to the Chavez and Maduro governments, and his evolving political and personal narrative.
Dirty John
The strange and grim story of an online romance on an over-50s dating site that quickly progressed to marriage, and then went to much darker places as the story of ‘Filthy’ John Meehan unravelled. The deep-dive piece is accompanied by a six part podcast.
Peter Popoff, the Born-Again Scoundrel
A look at the empire of a successfully returned 1980s televangelist, who gives supporters his “miracle spring water”.
The Cold War Plan to Keep Soviet Hands Off Middle Eastern Oil
Papers accidentally declassified by the Truman Presidential Library revealed a plot of ‘denial’, stopping the Soviet Union from accessing resources, whatever the cost.
The Untold Story of Otto Warmbier, American Hostage
A piece diving deep into the tragic story of an American student, arrested after a guided tour of North Korea, sentenced to 15 years hard labour, and released after diplomatic intervention only to die a few days after his return.
Inside the OED: can the world’s biggest dictionary survive the internet?
A study of the history of the dictionary and the evolving work of lexicographers in the internet age.
The Rock Solid History of Concrete
The little considered history of the material that “made the modern world possible” and its roots in Roman civilisation.
Inside LAX’s New Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Unit
A new experimental in-house counter-terrorism unit is taking a different approach to security.
Populism as a Backlash Against Globalisation – Historical Perspectives
The historian Niall Ferguson finds better parallels for the current political climate in American populism of the late 1800s rather than the more frequently referenced European fascism of the 1930s and 40s.