Culture

Europe has undergone several major periods of division, the first of which is not on the map, but roughly follows the Ottoman line, and involves the division of The Western and Eastern Roman Empire, which was   →  

I can still be fascinated by the old British East India Company, a mega-corporation in its day with its own navy and army, which contributed to a significant part of the global economy, much like if   →  

Here they are in random order, the albums that I think have had a big cultural impact without really being able to carry their name, either musically, creatively or with originality. The Velvet Underground & Nico,   →  

We are now in the final week of the year and it is time to predict the future. I have been playing this game for many years, with varying results. Sometimes you can see long-term trends,   →  

Anyone who grew up in the 1970s will remember post-war Europe, where a third of Germany was behind the communist Iron Curtain, along with Poland, the Baltic States, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, partly Yugoslavia, Albania and,   →  

There is a lot of strange ambiguity in the world, a whole portfolio of opinions whose veracity is questionable; let’s start with some examples: Whatever we think of Donald Trump’s personality, he seems to be working   →  

There are many signs that we live in an increasingly conservative society. One example, which I mentioned in another article, is the requirement to be addressed correctly. So-called ‘misgendering’ is considered a major offence in some   →  

Actually, wouldn’t it be better if Kamala Harris won? So she can continue to dismantle the American economy, and keep the Russians and Chinese busy, while we Europeans reform and build an empire? Well, she is   →  

The classic nation state is about ‘one people and one country’. It often talks about linguistic and cultural unity, but there are also aspects of ethnicity and religion. For example, Sweden is the country of the   →