Requiem for a dream

The opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics was a celebration of Britain. What happened to the feel-good factor?

Who's next? Tories brace for a race to the bottom

Sunak is off to a strong start - but bad blood seems likely, whoever moves into No 10

The Tory party can't just wash out its stains after Boris Johnson

In most successful revolutions, there comes a moment when the dictator is ushered out of office by a powerful figure within their inner circle.

Whale tales

Working with marine scientists, the military and other artists, Mhairi Killin has assembled an exhibition exploring the links between sound, people and the biggest creatures on the planet

Parents who go hungry to ensure their children eat

Some nights, all Jessemy Evans has to eat is the leftovers on her toddler's plate. She has stopped buying meat, insulated her windows with plastic to save on heating and cancels activities requiring petrol use -but still each day is becoming tougher as the high cost of living in New Zealand bites.

Spectre of one-term presidency haunts the White House

To many observers, Biden appears to be at a moment of profound crisis in his presidency: and one he is struggling to address.

THE FANTASY PRIME MINISTER

Dishonesty has been the one constant in Boris Johnson's career. In the end, the deceit proved too much to bear

Could new countries really be founded on the internet?

A network state is a country that "anyone can start from your computer, beginning by building a following" - not unlike companies, cryptocurrencies or decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOS).

Life in motion

Since the birth of film, stories of travel have been a mainstay. Why does the road movie continue to have such appeal?

Cabin fever

When passengers boarded the MS Zaandam in March 2020, they were preparing for the holiday of a lifetime. Within a week they would be confined to their rooms on a ship not welcome in any port

Biden Feels The Force Of Democrats' Rage Over Roe V Wade

High above America's capital, pro-choice activists scaled a construction crane, inching across its latticed steel arm to affix a banner with a message for the president. It read: "BIDEN PROTECT ABORTION."

Strictly defence

Nato resolve remains fixed on economic interventions

Xi's patriotic Hong Kong vision is a hard sell for foreign firms

During his first trip outside mainland China since the Covid pandemic began, president Xi Jinping declared a new era for Hong Kong which, in his words, had "risen from the ashes". New priorities have been set for a city that, until two years ago, was engulfed in street protests: political loyalty, social stability and economic development.

Strikers are providing the opposition Britain desperately needs Andy Beckett

In Britain, more than in most democratic countries, going on strike is a risk. Your employer, the government, most of the media, much of the public and often the opposition parties are likely to be against you - or, at best, unsupportive.

Sinking chips

Devastating losses and broken how digital currencies such as bitcoin and 'stablecoins' went from boom to collapse

Into the breeches

The Regency period lasted just nine years, so why does it dominate popular culture?

Different strokes

Timely biographies of the principal adversaries in Ukraine pit a former comic actor against a brutally pragmatic strongman

Could Ron DeSantis be America's new Maga bearer?

He was the most powerful man in the world, the possessor of the nuclear codes. Yet he behaved like a deranged manchild who threw temper tantrums, and food against the wall.

After burners: turbocharge your desserts with these griller thrillers

You're essentially looking at fruit here, Sam. But that doesn't necessarily mean chocolate-stuffed bananas.

Septic isle - How one community got rid of a toxic dump

Toru Ishii remembers when the shredded car tyres, batteries and runoff the colour and consistency of treacle blighted the landscape on Teshima, his island home in Japan's inland sea.

San Antonio residents reel from latest smuggling tragedy

Tony Bokanian got a call last Monday from a neighbour who told him police were massed near his used auto parts business on the south-western edge of San Antonio in southern Texas.

Ruthless innocence

A heart-rending tragedy set in a dysfunctional rural commune captures the pure sugar-rush of the last days of childhood

Feminism is not over, the work goes on everywhere every day

As it happened, I was in Edinburgh the day Roe v Wade was overturned, and the next day I caught a train back to London and did what I usually do when I get anywhere near King's Cross station.

If it cared, TikTok could inform not inflame Kenya's political debate Odanga Madung

Over the past year, I have submerged myself in propaganda, trying to study the information nerve-endings of Kenyan politics.

A Muppet makeover

The stage version of My Neighbour Totoro has smashed box office records. We meet the Jim Henson puppeteers bringing Studio Ghibli's beloved film to life

MUSIC - Billie Eilish

Eilish seems to be enjoying herself. Bathed in red light, she unselfconsciously throws herself into unfettered, unchoreographed dancing during You Should See Me In a Crown and All the Good Girls Go to Hell.

Bibi, or not Bibi? Netanyahu plots his comeback

Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum

Paula Rego

'She is dancing among the greats' Jonathan Jones celebrates an artist and bold storyteller of freakish imagination

What are the best Italian cookbooks to serve up a taste of la dolce vita?

As will Cucina Salentina, by Lucia Lazari, adds Theo Randall, chef-patron of Theo Randall at the InterContinental.

Shot in the arm

Arron Banks's libel loss is a timely boost for journalism