CATEGORIES

Is the era of shameless, corroded leaders behind us at last? Brigid Delaney

In a just and fair city, according to Plato, it's the philosophers who rule. These philosopher kings combine politics with philosophy - leading from a more rarefied plane than those beholden to factions, favours and personal enrichment. These idealised rulers were less concerned with raw power than the application of wisdom, justice, temperance, courage and reason.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bibi, or not Bibi? Netanyahu plots his comeback

Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum

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.

Ships in the night

How supply bottlenecks are transforming the global economy

'What a ball-buster!'

Juno Temple, the comic spark in Ted Lasso, relishes her new role as the no-nonsense assistant who got The Godfather made...by confronting mob bosses

'A global catastrophe' Women will suffer if court upends Roe

Activists warn that anti-choice groups will thrive if 1973 ruling is overturned especially in developing world

Any ceasefire deal ceding territory is ruled out

Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region last weekend.

Curious orange

Curcumin, a chemical extracted from the spice turmeric, could be a natural treatment for illnesses ranging from osteoporosis to cancer. What's puzzling scientists is how to get it into the bloodstream in sufficiently high volumes

Land parcels Amazon HQ plans divide Indigenous groups

Smoke curls into the air, a drum beats, the dance begins, a chant is raised. Ten metres away, cars howl past on a busy road, drivers unaware of the sacred ritual taking place in the centre of a bustling South African city.

Recycling plan aims to stub out cigarette littering

In a move that could provide some income for homeless people and clean up the streets, the Catalan government is looking at paying €4 ($4.25) to anyone who hands in a pack's-worth of cigarette ends at a recycling point.

Anarchy on the TV

How do you make a drama about the godfathers of punk when their lead singer is taking you to court and your cast has barely heard of them? Director Danny Boyle reveals all

Life after death

Lou Sedaris was a difficult man who had always baffled his children. So when he died at 98, where would they begin with his funeral?

These are the ways in which we can fight for our right to choose

Reproductive rights have been under attack for more than 30 years – by rightwing terrorism against abortion providers

The disunited states

A leaked supreme court draft that could signal the overturning of the Roe v Wade ruling on abortion rights has shaken America to its core. Can it survive the fallout?

How Putin fashioned Victory Day to serve his own ends

In cities across Russia on Monday, tanks and missile trucks growled their way along the main streets. Soldiers marched across central squares. Fighter jets roared overhead.

‘Prices change daily and we are all scared'

Erdoğan's unrealistic policies are behind spiralling inflation, but fallout from Ukraine is pushing Turkey towards a cost-of-living crisis

Re-loaded for television

Video game adaptations are taking over our screens, but what separates a quality TV production from a cynical cash-grab?

Beyond kelp Is seaweed our next great hope?

From food to plastics, o ocean vegetation could solve many looming production problems, say researchers

A hard centre

In the end, France opted for laissez-faire over the radical unknown of the far right. In his second term as president, can Emmanuel Macron find a way to connect with an angry and fractured nation?

“They said the crew was evacuated. It's a cruel, cynical lie!' Relatives despair for the Moskva's missing

For days after the Moskva cruiser sank in the Black Sea, Yulia Tsyvova had been desperately searching for information about her son Andrei.