essay
History
Why history is always political
In his work on republicanism as a living idea, J G A Pocock showed that contesting history is part of a robust civic life
Rosario López
video
Family life
One family’s harrowing escape from postwar Vietnam, told in a poignant metaphor
10 minutes
video
Fairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
essay
Human rights and justice
What’s in the rule of law?
The British Empire used a great democratic ideal to manufacture racial difference and rationalise colonial domination
Kanika Sharma
video
War and peace
A frontline soldier’s moving account of the fabled ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914
12 minutes
essay
Education
A valiant experiment
The progressive and remarkably innovative Woodmead School briefly flourished amid the viciousness of apartheid South Africa
David Dyzenhaus
video
History of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
19 minutes
essay
Future of technology
A linkless internet
In creating anonymous summaries, AI flattens out all the fascinating architecture of thought that makes the internet hum
Collin Jennings
video
Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
10 minutes
essay
Political philosophy
The order of anarchy
How San Francisco’s free rides system can help us understand anarchist theory and the work of the late, great James C Scott
Reyko Huang
video
Technology and the self
Why single Chinese women are freezing their eggs in California
24 minutes
essay
Human evolution
The eugenicist of UNESCO
Why did Julian S Huxley, first director of the UN agency, think eugenics held the key to a more evolved, harmonious world?
Stefan Bernhardt-Radu
essay
Political philosophy
The underground university
During the Cold War, Oxford philosophers worked together to aid dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. I was one of them
Cheryl Misak
video
The ancient world
Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier
18 minutes
essay
Biography and memoir
A grief with no name
As a child, I was torn from a culture that I never knew. It is a loss that defines me, even as I struggle to define the loss
Jelena Markovic
video
Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
5 minutes
essay
Nations and empires
What is decolonisation?
There’s more talk of decolonisation than ever, while true independence for former colonies has faded from view. Why?
Lydia Walker
video
War and peace
‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary
12 minutes
essay
Bioethics
The cochlear question
As the hearing parent of a deaf baby, I’m confronted with an agonising decision: should I give her an implant to help her hear?
Abi Stephenson
video
Art
Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece
31 minutes
video
Earth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
8 minutes
essay
Food and drink
The flavour of mechanisation
Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention
Massimo Mazzotti
video
Political philosophy
The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom
21 minutes
essay
Nations and empires
Utopia brasileira
Within less than a decade, Brazil will have as many evangelicals as Catholics, a transcendence born of the prosperity gospel
Alex Hochuli