Society

Children’s writing has been having a bit of a moment over the past couple of weeks, after a conversation on social media between children’s authors gathered into a sort of cri de coeur about the public neglect of their craft. Children’s books, they said, are barely covered in newspaper review pages or on the radio these days. Prizes for their creators have dwindled in number – the Smarties and Guardian prizes have long gone by the board, and the children’s category at the Costa book awards went down with that ship. We all know about the dwindling stock of public libraries. The writers complained, too, that publishers are using celebrity name recognition for

One can only feel for Kylian Mbappé. If scoring a hat-trick in a World Cup final but ending up on the losing side wasn’t enough, the Frenchman then had to endure a public display of affection from Emmanuel Macron.   Understandably, given that Mbappé and his teammates were still numb with the misery of losing the penalty shootout to Argentina, the PSG striker didn’t appear that receptive to being pawed by President Macron on the pitch at the Lusail stadium.  Macron has long seen Mbappé as the role model for presidency, a kid from the tough suburbs made good and, as he explained to the media in the wake of last night’s defeat: ‘I told him he’d made

H and M – no, the other brand – are causing trouble again. ‘Sussexes send out Happy Woke-mas card to friends’, griped the Mail on Sunday. Their crime? Wishing friends a ‘Joyful Holiday Season’ rather than a more traditional Merry Christmas. Given recent controversies, this might seem like a minor offence. But count your blessings. Last year, the Sussexes’ cards proffered a ‘Happy Holidays’ slogan, which was even more irritating to those of a sensitive cultural disposition.  “From our family to yours, and on behalf of our teams at The Archewell Foundation, Archewell Audio, and Archewell Productions, we wish you health, peace, and a very happy new year!,” write Prince

The use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki is hardly a festive subject. But given that in recent conversations with President Macron, Vladimir Putin has referenced Hiroshima as a precedent that he could use to justify the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, it seems a timely moment to evaluate the subject. And this is especially the case when the case for America using the bomb against Japan has more and more come under attack. The debate about the use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been increasingly won by America’s revisionist historians. In 1945, 85 per cent of Americans thought that the use of these atom

If you were Putin, what would you do? Predicting your adversary’s future moves requires putting yourself in his shoes. As Russia’s misadventure in Ukraine nears its first grim anniversary, we should ask ourselves how Putin sees the world, indeed – how we would see the world and what policy we would pursue if faced with a range of unpalatable options. Option one. He could declare the war lost and withdraw. If I were Putin, I would not choose this option. Why? There is grave danger in admitting defeat. Russia was built on the myth of infallibility. While the hope of victory stays alive, the people will follow the Tsar. But

Time was, the Christmas shopping season used to last a week or two. Now it drags on for months. Never mind wage inflation – what about present inflation? The whole thing is like a gigantic poker game, where the stakes are raised remorselessly every year. How did Christmas mutate into this orgy of rampant consumerism? Step forward the man who invented Christmas: Charles John Huffam Dickens Esquire. The story of how Scrooge recovers his lost innocence speaks to something deep in all of us, a yearning for lost childhood It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that Dickens invented Christmas – but like the exaggerations of his novels, it