Category Archives: Culture

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – FEBRUARY 27, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Can Britain’s Monarchy Survive the Andrew Crisis?’…

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor last week, after allegations he had shared confidential information with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sent shock waves around the world.

What happens next is unclear, but the ramifications will go far beyond the former prince, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. It was one of the most consequential days for Britain’s monarchy in generations, shattering the traditional aura of royal mystique and raising questions of accountability, deference and whether the royal family should have acted sooner.

In a powerful essay for our big story this week, Stephen Bates asks whether the royal family can survive the unfolding scandal.

Spotlight | The limits to the supreme court’s assent
Last week’s declaration by the conservative-heavy court that Trump’s sweeping tariffs are unlawful is a major setback for the president, writes Ed Pilkington

Health | Why big pharma stands to gain from weight-loss pills
Oral tablets could bring obesity treatment into the mainstream, with the sector predicted to be worth $200bn by the end of the decade. Julia Kollewe reports

Special report | The road to war in Ukraine
In a remarkably detailed piece drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders, Shaun Walker explains how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans – and why nobody believed them

Opinion | A degree? A trade? Every rung for young people is a trap
Is it to be a degree and heavy debt when graduate jobs are shrinking? Or forgoing a degree, knowing society still worships them? Confused, angry: who wouldn’t be, asks Jason Okundaye

Culture | Big in Beijing (but less so in Blackpool)
James Balmont’s band, Swim Deep, plays to crowds of hundreds across the UK – but in China, they perform in front of tens of thousands. And they’re not the only ones

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – MARCH 2, 2026 PREVIEW

In the winter, a man sits between a window and a radiator and is both freezing and sweating.


THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE : The latest issue features Rachel Aviv on the trial of Gisèle Pelicot’s rapists, Tad Friend on James Talarico, David Sedaris on being broke in New York, and more.

Ian McKellen Swings from Shakespeare to Gandalf to Virtual Reality

On a visit to New York, the actor reflected on mortality and coming out, and unleashed an Elizabethan anti-ICE monologue on “Colbert” that went viral. By Henry Alford

James Talarico Puts His Faith in Texas Voters

The Senate candidate believes that Democrats can win by appealing to higher values. Can he succeed in the age of Trump? By Tad Friend

Why the World Cup Can Feel Like War

Soccer stadiums can be dominated by violence, tribalism, chauvinism, and near-religious fervor‚ animated by the memory of old hostilities and the power of ritual. By Ian Buruma

The Trial of Gisèle Pelicot’s Rapists United France and Fractured Her Family

After fifty-one men were convicted, Pelicot became a feminist hero. But additional accusations left her children struggling to accept her new role. By Rachel Aviv

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE- FEB. 22, 2026

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 2.22.26 Issue features Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Gisèle Pelicot; Caitlin L. Chandler on Europe’s harsh new immigration policy; Reid Forgrave on the olympic cross-country skier Jesse Diggins; and more.

Toni Morrison Was a Master of the Unthinkable

What made her one of our greatest — and most dangerous — novelists was her belief that stories could contain what our minds couldn’t confront.

“I Had No Idea How to Handle That”: The Drama Behind a Tense Ice Skating Moment

In 1994, the Olympics were rocked by a giant skating scandal. When it was all over, three athletes waited for their medals. Interviews by Charley Locke

Is Love Addictive? Many Say Yes, and It’s Changing Our Idea of Romance.

Poems and songs say love should be world-shattering. The logic of love addiction suggests that it shouldn’t. By Sophie Haigney

How Intense Should Love Really Be? We Want to Hear Your Thoughts.

Have you ever been called a “love addict?” Ever suspected somebody else was?

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – FEBRUARY 20, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘One Day In Rio’ – The untold story of Brazil’s deadliest police raid.

The first shots of an infamous day were fired in Rio’s Complexo da Penha favela at 4.30am. It was 28 October 2025 and the deadliest police raid in Brazil’s history had just begun. By the end of the day, 122 people, including five police, were dead.

The raid, nicknamed Operation Containment, was intended to apprehend members of one of the country’s most powerful organised crime groups, the Red Command – and in particular its kingpin, Edgar Alves de Andrade, who is also known as “the Bear”.

But the list of 100 arrest warrants justifying the operation featured none of the 117 people killed, and at least one of the dead was not involved in organised crime at all. The Bear, meanwhile, remains at large. Activists, security experts and even Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have described the operation as a futile massacre.

Now, in a forensic investigation encompassing interviews with community leaders, lawyers, security specialists and bereaved relatives, the Guardian’s South America correspondents Tom Phillips and Thiago Rogero have pieced together the full, previously untold story of what happened.

The big story | Continental drift in Munich
Europe’s leaders met to discuss the continent’s future safety at the Munich Security Conference, a gathering characterised by mistrust of the US Trump administration and divisions over Ukraine. Patrick Wintour was there

Spotlight | Pressure mounts for Andrew to talk to police
As calls for the former prince to cooperate with the investigation become deafening, this may be the reckoning the British king’s brother cannot escape. Caroline Davies and Alexandra Topping investigate

Interview | Tracey Emin on reputation and radical honesty
She scandalised the art world in the 1990s with her unmade bed, partied hard in the 2000s – then a brush with death turned the artist’s life upside down. Now Tracey Emin is as frank as ever, as Charlotte Higgins discovered

Opinion | Iran’s 1979 revolution offers some present-day pointers
The similarities between Iran’s current crisis and events preceding the shah’s exile are striking. The radical clerics benefited then – but, asks Jason Burke, who would prevail this time?

Culture | Thundercat on funk, lost friends and being fired by Snoop Dogg
The genre-hopping bass virtuoso has backed Ariana Grande and Herbie Hancock, appeared in Star Wars and become a boxer. Stephen Bruner explains his polymath mindset to Alexis Petridis

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – MARCH 2026 PREVIEW

HARPER’S MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Tech Boys In Toyland’- Fear of Girls, Sperm Racing, and Silicon Valley’s Lust for Global Destruction…

Child’s Play

Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking by Sam Kriss

The Plot to Save America

Inside the movement to reindustrialize—and rearm—the country by Maddy Crowell

Out of Light

Caravaggio, La Tour, and the art of attention by Nicole Krauss

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE- FEB. 15, 2026

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 2.15.26 Issue features Maggie Jones of dissociative identity disorder; Alexandra Kleeman on Letterboxd; Ruth Margalit on Yair Golan; and more.

What It’s Like to Live With One of Psychiatry’s Most Misunderstood Diagnoses

Spurred by her past struggles with dissociative identity disorder, she has devoted her professional life to studying it.

Why the Future of the Movies Lives on Letterboxd

The entertainment industry is in crisis, but a social platform for film enthusiasts is thriving. Is it changing the way we watch? By Alexandra Kleeman

‘We Are Going to Live With Scars’: Yair Golan’s Battle for a Two-State Solution

To many Israelis, he’s a war hero. To others, he’s a traitor guilty of “blood libel.” Can Yair Golan change politics in Israel? By Ruth Margalit

Michael Pollan Says Humanity Is About to Undergo a Revolutionary Change

The best-selling author grapples with big questions about A.I., consciousness and the distractions polluting our minds. By David Marchese

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – FEBRUARY 13, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘The Men’s Club’ – Epstein’s world and the attendant role of women…

The latest tranche of the Jeffrey Epstein files have been in the public domain for less than two weeks, but already their contents have sent shock waves around the world.

Nowhere is this more true than in Britain, where the fallout has come to the door of Keir Starmer over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington, amid questions about how much the prime minister knew of his former envoy’s links to Epstein.

Starmer looks to have weathered the immediate pressure to resign this week, despite having lost his influential chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the scandal. But the vultures are still circling and it seems a matter of when, rather than if, the prime minister will go. Kiran Stacey weighs up the possible challengers from within the Labour party, while Oliver Holmes and Chris Michael consider why the scandal hit home so hard in the UK.

Spotlight | The last post for press freedom in the US?
Jeff Bezos’s axing of more than 300 jobs at the Washington Post has renewed fears about the resilience of America’s democracy to withstand Donald Trump’s attacks. Ed Pilkington and Jeremy Barr report

Technology | The continuing risks and rewards of AI
As policymakers and tech executives prepare for the next global AI summit in India, an annual safety report highlights the issues that will be at stake, writes Dan Milmo

Interview | Can Zack Polanski pull off a green revolution in the UK?
With polls and membership at an all-time high, the UK Green party is having a moment – and it’s largely down to the party’s charismatic (if slightly cheesy) new leader. Simon Hattenstone went on the road with him

Opinion | What links UK politics and Epstein? A thick seam of contempt
We’re often told the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, is a ‘decent’ man. But in appointing Peter Mandelson he chose political convenience over doing right, argues Nesrine Malik

Culture | The sign language of Margaret Calvert
Airports, road signs, typefaces … the design legend revolutionised how Britain looked and her brilliantly clear designs are still used today. Catherine Slessor met her

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – FEBRUARY 11, 2026

Cover of Country Life 11 February, 2026 featuring The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The fine art issue, featuring Seurat, art in literature and Sir Antony Gormley, plus Ampthill Park House and the long-eared eagle owl. 

Cast in the same mould

Sir Antony Gormley examines the parallels between his own Reflect and the Adriaen de Vries bronze of Antiope and Theseus

Don’t believe in modern love?

With Valentine’s Day looming and singlehood rising, Will Hosie seeks dating tips from the finest minds among the Ancients

Ford momentum

Harry Pearson enjoys the thrill of splashing through the countless fords criss-crossing the rivers and streams of the British Isles

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

Luxury

Jonathan Self is bewitched by the poetry of poesy rings and Amie Elizabeth White says ‘if you only buy one Derby boot…’

Life in the fast lane

Norfolk farmer Gavin Lane tells Julie Harding of the sleepless nights he has endured since taking the reins at the CLA

Sir Thomas Drew and Hélène Duchêne’s favourite paintings

His Majesty’s Ambassador to France and the French Ambassador to the Court of St James share their artworks of choice

Country-house treasure

John Goodall glimpses early-20th-century life at Mapperton House in Dorset in the form of a black-and-gold satin dress

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

A house of collections

In the second of two articles, Jeremy Musson explores the exceptional modern collection in the historic setting of Ampthill Park House in Bedfordshire

The legacy

Carla Passino hails the artworks amassed by Sir William Burrell

Where the wild things are

Exotic animals from around the world were unveiled to European eyes by artists such as Dürer and Stubbs, finds Michael Prodger

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

Winging it

Mark Cocker profiles the elusive and elegant long-eared owl

Interiors

Arabella Youens lauds a London drawing room and Amelia Thorpe keeps the home fires burning

Floral geometry

Banish the gloom with glorious winter-flowering Camellia japonica, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

Slow and steady wins the race

Tom Parker Bowles savours the boozy boeuf à la Bourguignonne

Travel

Ben Lerwill delves into the story of space travel when he touches down at NASA HQ in Houston

Arts & antiques

Georges Seurat’s sublime French seascapes are taking centre stage at the Courtauld Gallery in London, reveals Carla Passino

Write side up

Art has long drawn inspiration from literature — from Ovid and Virgil to Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll, discovers Carla Passino

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – FEBRUARY 16 & 23, 2026

Eustace Tilley and his tall hat obscure the view of the screen in a movie theater.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue features The Anniversary Issue: Dhruv Khullar on Ozempic, David Remnick on Joe Rogan, Ava Kofman on a surrogacy scandal, and more.

Is There a Remedy for Presidential Profiteering?

Until now, Trump always seemed unembarrassed to crow about his side hustles. But, if the Emirati payment was kept secret, what else might be? By David D. Kirkpatrick

Can Ozempic Cure Addiction?

GLP-1 drugs, which have helped some people curb drug and alcohol use, may unlock a pathway to moderation. By Dhruv Khullar

What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either

Researchers at the company are trying to understand their A.I. system’s mind—examining its neurons, running it through psychology experiments, and putting it on the therapy couch. By Gideon Lewis-Kraus