The endless reign of Rupert Murdoch
A profile of Rupert Murdoch, fittingly epic in length given its subject’s lifetime spent “in the business of speaking power to truth”.
The Heart and the Fist
The journalist that wrote this story covering a political scandal surrounding the right wing, ex-Navy Seal, Governor of Missouri has an unusual angle – she went to the University of Oxford with his wife, and they were friends.
How Wetherspoon’s Conquered Britain
This is the sort of business profile usually reserved for tech unicorns. It turns out that this billion pound company, built by selling a vast volume of cheap pints (and coffees, and curries, and breakfasts), shares many similarities with Silicon Valley disruptors. It starts with a maverick founder and a relentless culture of innovation and competition, leads to the criticism that inevitably comes with scale, and ends up with the mixing of business and politics.
Revealed: The Secret KGB Manual for Recruiting Spies
This three part story examines newly released KGB operational manuals and looks for evidence of their tactics in recruiting foreign targets today, in Russia’s moves in the Middle East, and in their approach to turning Russians worldwide into intelligence assets.
Romain Pizzi is saving endangered animals, one operation at a time
A leading veterinary surgeon, the perfect man if you have “a tiger with gallstones, or a suspiciously sickly beaver”, has been turning his hand to a broad array of endangered animals.
China’s Camel-Milk Mogul
A look at the camel milk industry of China, thriving in a remote northwestern region bordering Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia.
Where global warming gets real: inside Nasa’s mission to the north pole
The story of Nasa’s evocatively named Operation IceBridge.
Urban Dreams
A look at the plan to build an Indian state capital from scratch, the fifth such project and perhaps the most ambitious yet.
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.
Vladimir Lenin’s Return Journey to Russia Changed the World Forever
The author retraces Lenin’s return from exile in 1917, a journey that was to have a profound impact on human history.