Category Archives: Culture

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COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 PREVIEW

September 8, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features…

Choices, choices

With a seemingly endless array to select from, Country Life contributors reveal the tulips they will be planting for spring.

Spreads from Country Life September 9, 2026

Catch a falling leaf

Charles Quest-Ritson is hoping for warm days and cool nights to fuel a spectacular display of countryside autumn colour

Who let the dogs out?

Music and Man’s best friend go hand in hand. Harry Pearson collars canines calling the tune

Well, hello Salar!

David Profumo heads for the West Country in the wake of his fishing hero Ted Hughes

Luxury

Jonathan Self is dazzled by Coco Chanel jewellery and Tiffany Daneff is talking trugs

George Saumarez Smith’s favourite painting

The architect chooses a bold graphic linocut of the feline form

Country-house treasure

John Goodall admires the revival of the Tapestry Drawing Room at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire

The legacy

Tiffany Daneff pays tribute to the family who cooked up the secret recipe for Pulhamite rock

Grandstand views

An inspirational outlook makes for a magnificent garden at Mount St John, North Yorkshire. Kendra Wilson surveys the scene

Hot pots

Amelia Thorpe picks standout planters to showcase top tulips

Forever flowers

Blooms of Hydrangea paniculata are a must for every garden, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

Why build a new country house

George Saumarez Smith weighs up the allure of a new country house in place of an historic pile

A point of prospect

John Goodall finds a striking new memorial tower worth the climb at Doddington Place, Kent

Picture this

Independent rural cinemas will always offer the best big-screen experience for Madeleine Silver

Interiors

A feast of design ideas awaits visitors to key events such as Focus/26, reveals Amelia Thorpe

Back to the future

Harry Pearson meets the art conservators giving historic paintings a new lease of life

Shell we?

The secret to dressed-crab perfection is keeping it simple, as Tom Parker Bowles reveals

Lord of the flies

Fruit flies are more than a mere pest — Ian Morton reveals their critical role in medical research

New series: Countryside mysteries

Otherworldly cramp balls — or King Alfred’s cakes — fire the imagination of John Wright

Travel

Gabriella Le Breton unpacks the winter latest, from new Swiss ski lifts to the high life in Courchevel

Arts & antiques

Benvenuto Cellini’s golden Saliera is a 16th-century cellar worth its salt, as Carla Passino discovers

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE SPECTATOR WORLD MAGAZINE – SEPT. 14, 2026

September 8, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE SPECTATOR WORLD: The latest issue features ‘Welcome to Kushner Island’ – Inside Jared and Ivanka’s Balkan Boondoggle…

Inside Jared Kushner’s Albanian adventure

For much of its history, Albania remained as shadowy and remote as the fictional Syldavia of the Tintin comics. Letters to Albania were sometimes returned from Albany, New York, with the postal direction “Try Europe.” The country came into existence only after 1912, with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Its first ruler, King Zog, was hounded out by Mussolini when he invaded in 1939. Five years later, the Italians and…

Trump has serious beef with American farmers

In August, Donald Trump sided with consumers by increasing the tariff-free quota on imported beef for 90 days beginning September 1. The concession will last three months. It would be a minor story with any other president in the White House. But under Trump, even dull-sounding trade news can take on a sudden importance, especially when mixed up with foreign affairs. Trump’s justification for favoring Argentina, whose 2026 quota he increased by 80,000 metric tons, is partly geopolitical: he wants to give support to Javier Milei’s free-market regime, seeing it as a foil to left-leaning governments elsewhere in Latin America.

Is Pete Hegseth running for president? Or getting fired?

Pete Hegseth has a face for television and a machismo of sorts. It appears, even to parts of MAGA, that Donald Trump put him in charge of the armed forces because the President likes attractive people on TV. “Right out of central casting,” Trump once told Secretary Hegseth, patting him on the bicep. “Pete loves war!”

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 14, 2026

September 7, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

The cover of the September 14 2026 Fall Style Design Issue of The New Yorker on which a stylish woman uses a subway car...

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features “Lennart Gäbel’s “Showstopper” – Commuter couture.

The America That 9/11 Made

A quarter century after the attacks, the grief, wars, and political furies of their aftermath still shape American life. By Jill Lepore

Have Conservatives Taken Sexy Back?

The culture wars have come for lingerie as the right, once the advocates of promise rings and purity culture, embarks on a crusade to “Make America Hot Again.” By Jennifer Wilson

Saudi Arabia’s Pursuit of Michelin Stardom

The kingdom, seeking to rebrand as a culinary juggernaut, has bankrolled new restaurants and conscripted big-name chefs. Will it succeed? By Ruby Tandoh

Donald Trump’s Capital Makeover

A coterie of advisers, planners, and architects is enabling the President’s passion project—renovating D.C. in his own image. By Antonia Hitchens

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE- SEPT. 6, 2026

September 5, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 9.6.26 Issue features Benjamin Wallace on the summer ticks took over; Ruth Franklin on teaching Huck Finn in 2026; Susan Dominus on Collien Fernandes and her quest to find out who was impersonating her online; and more.

The Summer the Ticks Took Over

A scientific and civilizational horror story.

In an Age of Perpetual Climate Disaster, Rebuilding Is the Wrong Goal

But every crisis is an opportunity. By David Wallace-Wells

Every Family Has Its Own Private Language. What Does That Tell Us About Ourselves?

“Familects” emerge out of in-jokes and mispronunciations, but they reveal something about how all language evolves. By Nitsuh Abebe

Baseball In the Ashes: The Riveting, Heartbreaking Drama of the Yankees’ Post-9/11 Run

George W. Bush, Billy Crystal, Tino Martinez and others describe how baseball and a thrilling postseason became a rallying cry for the country. By Garrett Graff

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – SEPTEMBER 4, 2026

September 3, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Swept Away’ – After the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster…

Over the last week, the world has watched with horror the scenes from the Tibet-Nepal border where a devastating torrent of mud, water and ice tore along the Bhotekoshi River, destroying entire communities and leaving more than 1,000 people dead and several thousand more missing.

From the Nepali town of Devighat, our south Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen describes a nightmarish scene of overflowing mortuaries and unidentifiable bodies, as shellshocked survivors of the flood slowly return to the ruins of their homes.

The disaster happened after the collapse of a glacier – and while global heating has not been definitively attributed as the cause, it is undeniable that steep mountain slopes and valleys are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides, while extreme weather events such as monsoons and melting glaciers have become more common because of warming due to human-caused climate breakdown, as our global environment writer Jonathan Watts explains.

Then columnist Nesrine Malik paints a wider picture and argues that while for many people these floods may feel as though they have happened a world away, the climate crisis is coming for us all, one way or another.

Spotlight | Mark Carney shows combative nature in face-off with Trump
The Canadian PM is one of the few world leaders to stand up to the US president. Former colleagues say they are not surprised. Leyland Cecco, Heather Stewart and Kalyeena Makortoff report

Science | The robots are coming!
… Or are they? As entrants at the World Humanoid Games lurched from triumph to farce, Robert Booth finds that a robotics revolution may not be as close as it first appears

Interview | Gordon Brown on Burnham, billionaires – and a better Britain
The former UK prime minister is still shaping politics (even if he doesn’t want to interfere). He tells Charlotte Edwardes about keeping his temper, staying fit – and why he won’t splash out for a Scotland football shirt

Opinion | The tech titans must be stripped of their power, and soon
Those who said Meta harms children struck a blow, but the ability of big tech to gouge profits and cause harm is barely diminished. That’s the battle to come, argues Jonathan Freedland

Culture | Dolly Parton’s peerless career turned country music cliches inside out
Beneath the wig and rhinestones, the late US country singer was the genius behind strings of classic songs that continue to inspire new artists, says Alexis Petridis

Culture, Foreign Affairs, Magazines, Opinion, Politics

MOMENT MAGAZINE – FALL 2026 ISSUE PREVIEW

September 2, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

MOMENT MAGAZINE : The latest issue feature ‘The Divided Jewish Voter’…

The GOP’s Tucker Carlson Problem

Jewish Voters at Midterm: Emotional, Angry, Torn, Inspired—or All of the Above?

Yale University Press Decides 100 ‘Jewish Lives’ Are Enough

Can Jewish groups work with the Democratic Socialists of America?

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Reviews, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 PREVIEW

September 2, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features…

Majesty reborn

Edward Impey admires the ambitious attempt to revive early-12th-century interiors at Norwich Castle keep in Norfolk

What did the Normans ever do for us?

Jason Goodwin examines how the 1066 invasion by William the Conqueror changed the character of England forever

Walk on the wild side

Nicholas Crane re-creates the 1,000-mile, 12th-century journey undertaken by Gerald of Wales, Britain’s first great travel writer

Architecture as power

The monumental castles and churches the Normans left behind still express their strength in stone, reveals John Goodall

That sinking feeling

Quicksand is the stuff of many a nightmare. Harry Pearson tries not to get sucked in

Arts & antiques

Artists have long been inspired by the Battle of Hastings, as Carla Passino discovers

Michael Whitehall’s favourite painting

The podcast co-host chooses an arresting work expressing movement and fleeting beauty

Save our seeds

Seed Detective Adam Alexander issues an appeal to gardeners to revive the Victorian tradition of gathering life-giving pips

The legacy

The fossil-hunter Mary Anning helped put palaeontology front and centre, finds Kate Green

Country-house treasure

The golden Jean Tijou gates at Burghley House in Lincolnshire catch the eye of John Goodall

New series: Countryside mysteries

In the first of a series on rural riddles, John Wright cracks the old conundrum of strip lynchets

Yell for leather

Corinne Julius meets the animal-hide experts conserving historic objects from their Leicester HQ

You little cracker

The neglected Kentish cobnut is making an overdue come-back, suggests Susan Low

Luxury

The runway returns and Amie Elizabeth White’s earthy tones

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe picks out elegant fittings to elevate the bathroom

London Life

Will Hosie asks what makes a pub a pub and eyes properties with a pop of colour, plus our writers have all you need to know this month and Gio Fio marvels at the reinvention of the north bank of the Thames

Out on the prairie

American plants may be the answer to our warming climate, reports Charles Quest-Ritson

Travel

Pamela Goodman roots around in the Nadder Valley in Wiltshire

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE- AUGUST 30, 2026

August 29, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The 8.30.26 Issue features Charles Homans on Democratic Socialists; Chien-Chi Chang on civil-defense drills in Taiwan; Jon Ronson on Greg Chism’s strange journey with YouTube; and more.

Rachel Cusk Tried to Caricature Natalie Portman. She Only Caricatured Herself.

Her latest novel appears to savage a celebrity. But Cusk has, once again, managed to turn herself into the victim.

In ‘9 to 5,’ Dolly Parton Put a Friendly Face on Feminism

In 1980, feminists were often stereotyped as man-hating or out of touch. Then Parton gave the movement a boost — and an anthem. By Susan Dominus

It’s One of Our Greatest and Most Controversial Novels. How Should It Be Taught?

I traveled around the country to find out if “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” still has a place in the classroom. By Ruth Franklin

‘Cult’ Used to Mean Something. Now It Applies to Taylor Swift and Trader Joe’s.

The word today applies to more than religious sects, but it says something about our worshipful attitude toward consumption. By Sophie Haigney

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 7, 2026

August 29, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features “Nicole Rifkin’s “Pure Gold” – We will always love you.

Dolly Parton, Honky-Tonk Angel

Dolly Parton belonged to a beloved category: the outlaw Christian, who loved Jesus and refused to hate anyone else.

Cinema Lessons from a Trash-Movie Auteur

Why do we love trash and hate slop? Neil Breen’s so-bad-they’re-great movies elucidate the difference.

The Floods Nepal Didn’t Cause

Flash floods, triggered by a glacial collapse in the Himalayas, have killed at least five hundred people in a nation that has contributed little to climate change but is disproportionately affected by it. By Ishaan Tharoor

How the Meta Settlement Could Change the Internet

Even while refusing to admit legal fault, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has accepted, for the first time, that much of its business model is unacceptable for children. By Nathaniel Lubin

New Maps Show How Israel Has Thwarted Hopes for a Palestinian State

The breakneck expansion of settlements in the West Bank has rendered American talk of a two-state solution increasingly irrelevant.

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY —- AUGUST 28, 2026 PREVIEW

August 27, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘The forgotten health crisis’ – DRC’s Ebola outbreak passes grim milestone.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has just passed the grim milestone of 100 days since it declared its 17th Ebola outbreak.

What is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record could also become the world’s deadliest ever.

For our big story this week, Prosper Heri Ngorora and Rachel Savage report on the frontline health workers who say, as the disease spreads “exponentially”, they have been left unpaid and at risk of infection.

Explaining the figures behind the outbreak, and the race to find vaccines and treatments, global health correspondent Kat Lay answers five key questions.

And Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, write that tapping into community leadership and knowledge is essential to halting the virus’s spread.

Spotlight | ‘We will go on – but it will be more scary’
Dan Sabbagh reports from Kyiv where, as Russian missiles rain down, casualties are mounting and the mood is darkening

Environment | Killed by kindness
Scientists were surprised to find all but two of 12 grizzlies died within a year of their “feelgood” release, unable to sustain their high-calorie diet and inclined to approach humans, writes Rebecca Ratcliffe

Feature | A family at war
Meaghan Beatley tells the remarkable story of a young Argentinian activist who thought her father’s disapproval of her leftwing views was purely political. But one evening, a kiss goodbye sent her on a remarkable journey that continues today

Opinion | Marine Le Pen’s career resurrection
No longer banned from next year’s presidential election, the far-right veteran is a bigger threat than ever, says Mujtaba Rahman

Culture | Playing the bad guy
As his new film Bitter Christmas is released, legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar talks to Ryan Gilbey about Donald Trump, Netflix – and being the villain in his own movie