The Soviet economy 1917-1991
Russia’s Soviet era was distinguished not by economic growth or human development, but by the use of the economy to build national power. The education of women and better survival rates of children improved opportunities for many citizens, but Soviet Russia was a tough and unequal environment.
100 years after Balfour
The reality which still shames Israel. Two very different parts of Palestine highlight the injustice still inflicted on Arabs by Israel. The former chief political commentator of the Telegraph looks back at the historic declaration.
Global politics at a crossroads
The retreat to nationalism and militant identity politics is counter to the process of accommodation that has underpinned world peace since the end of the Second World War explains David Held, professor of politics and international relations at Durham University.
Babiš’ Czech Republic: too thin a gruel?
There is always a chance that, owing to unforeseen domestic or external dynamics, the Czech Republic may yet slide into illiberal isolation. But it will be not be by design.
Dreamer’s Gate
Standing by itself on the road running through the small town of Collector in New South Wales, the unfinished sculpture of Dreamer’s Gate exudes a ghostly elegance, in tan and windblown concrete and wire,
George Steiner: The Gift of Memory
Has Truth a Future? George Steiner’s question may have sounded over-stated when it was first asked thirty years ago, but history has revealed the prescience of Dr Steiner’s urgent concern.
Plastics are making our oceans sick
Filmmaker Jo Ruxton talks about why she left the BBC to tell a more honest story about our seas. Once you get into your head that plastic’s not disposable, there are so many changes you can make.
The Scale of Pentagon Waste
If any other public agency had blown hundreds of billions of dollars, Congress would hold hearings. If it’s the Pentagon, it gets $80 billion more. It’s worth asking: Where does the money go?
Richard Thaler, Nobel laureate
Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Hersh Shefrin looks at the development of three key areas of his research: people’s limited rationality, their perceptions about fairness, and their lack of self-control.
AIIB invests in Egyptian solar
It’s early days for solar power in Egypt but already the sector is attracting significant attention from big development banks, including investment by the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)