The historian Linda Colley proposes that the relative political stability of Britain (along with the US) over time has left its political system with more maintenance work outstanding than other countries that have experienced greater upheaval. From there, she looks to the lessons history can offer in addressing Britain’s current challenges. http://bit.ly/lrb-history
A piece reassessing common tropes we use to explain how civilisations decline, from Easter Island to the Maya.
A story about friendship and trust, told through a case of high society fraud allegedly perpetrated by a woman who claimed to be the Egyptian President’s secret wife, an ex-wife of Hugo Chavez, and a mentor to Ivanka Trump.
A searching piece about Amazon and monopoly, published in a newspaper owned by Amazon’s CEO. If you have the time, it’s also worth dipping into the elegantly wrought 28,000 word ‘note’ in The Yale Law Journal that inspired the piece.
A piece examining a project driven by hope – an in-depth study of the health of North Korean defectors that seeks to understand the long-term impact of living through the regime’s many hardships, with the goal of rendering a future reunification more straightforward.
A piece looking at the thieves illegally salvaging sunken battleships.
A message board allowing users to post anonymously has played a significant role in the recent history of internet culture (think – the birthplace of the meme), the development of new extreme right movements sometimes called the ‘alt-right’, and the series of events that put Trump in the White House.
Keith Davies disappeared at sea in 2015. He had the little known job of fisheries observer, inspectors who travel with commercial fishing vessels to ensure fishing regulations are being observed. The role is often very isolated, sometimes coming into conflict with the ship’s crew – out at sea, it can even be dangerous.
A piece looking at the story of the film The Thief and the Cobbler, the unfinished magnum opus of Richard Williams, considered by many to be the world’s greatest living animator.