Murder in Hampstead: did a secret trial put the wrong man in jail?
A look at the contentious circumstances surrounding a murder case that went to a secret trial and put a long-time MI6 informant in jail.
Eat, pray, live: the Lagos megachurches building their very own cities
They started as accommodation to support huge events, but have expanded to become highly desirable living quarters for the Lagos faithful.
Libor scandal: the bankers who fixed the world’s most important number
A look deep inside the Libor scandal that reads like a Hollywood clich of corporate malfeasance.
Not the end of The World: the return of DubaiÕs ultimate folly
Dubai’s iconic / infamous reclaimed offshore property development went bust during the financial crisis and was left empty for years (apart from a solitary beach club in Lebanon). A few developers stayed the course and are now imagining ever more ambitious architectural smorgasbords to entice the global elite.
My Double Life as a KGB Agent
The story of Albrecht Dittrich, an East German chemist who spent years as a spy under the identity of Jack Barsky, a computer analyst working in Manhattan.
Dmitry Medvedev: the whipping boy for Russia’s discontented
A profile of Vladimir Putin’s political foil.
The George Soros philosophy – and its fatal flaw
This story profiles a long time bogeyman of the Trumpian right, the billionaire fund owner and philanthropist George Soros, and assesses the state of his vision for an open society.
Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet
Far from being under threat as is sometimes claimed, the English language’s global dominance appears to be stronger than ever. Not only is it on a user acquisition spree that would make any tech startup jealous, but it has also turned into a “net exporter” of words, infiltrating other languages with Anglicisms. This piece examines these and other ways in which it is asserting its position as the first “hypercentral” language.
An unsolved murder at Italy’s most notorious tower block
The story of a murder at an apartment block marketed as a luxury development when it opened in 1968, but now “like an inverse of Dante’s layers of hell”. The building is disintegrating, but houses a large and diverse population, including an estimated 50 drug dealers. This is a story about the changes in fortune in the Italian economy, urban development, immigration, integration, and failing public infrastructure.
Cricket historian, writer, surgeon, spy: the mad world of Major Rowland Bowen
An account of a life less ordinary.