Returning to Second Life
A piece revisiting the alternative virtual world Second Life, which is still surviving and even generating significant revenues, despite receding from popular consciousness in the last decade.
Exiles on Pennsylvania Avenue: How Jared and Ivanka Were Repelled by Washington’s Elite
The story of Jared and Ivanka’s adventures in Washington.
Through the Outback
A piece interspersed with evocative images, describing the photographer-author’s 12,000-mile, three-month journey through Australia’s Outback.
The Lost Joys of the Screen Saver
This piece, an artistic appreciation of computer screen savers, doesn’t hesitate to use three long words where one short one would suffice, and cites sources from Borges to Escher. Alongside that it retains an infectious enthusiasm for these artefacts of an earlier age of the web.
How Ex-Spy Christopher Steele Compiled His Explosive Trump-Russia Dossier
The story of how the controversial dossier on President Trump was researched and compiled.
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 Pilot Who Stole a Secret Soviet Fighter Jet
The story of the Soviet fighter pilot who defected in 1976 in a new supersonic fighter jet that no one outside the Soviet military had ever before set eyes upon.
Second Life was Just the Beginning
Second Life was perhaps the first virtual world to enter mainstream discourse. Its founder thinks new virtual reality technologies are its successor, and destined for mass adoption. http://www.bit.ly/wired-secondlife
Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom To Be Murdered
The dark and unsettling story of a case of suspected Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome that had tragic consequences.
Brexit: How a Fringe Idea Took Hold Of the Tory Party
Matthew d’Ancona looks at the behind the scenes dynamics that have led to the referendum on leaving the EU.