Another "special operation" or a Marx Brothers-style farce in which competing thieves tried to outwit one another? I wrote a long read about the curious disappearance of rare Russian books from European libraries www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

One thing I still find really hard to compute about Musk endorsing the AfD as deregulation champions is that the AfD was literally the party most vocally opposed to Tesla setting up its factory in Brandenburg, citing “violations of building and environmental regulations”.

Here is a letter I've signed, along with 40+ other current or former correspondents, expressing our alarm and dismay at plans to sell the Observer to Tortoise media www.theguardian.com/media/2024/d...

The most interesting thing about Angela Merkel‘s memoirs are the people and moments she declines to mention www.theguardian.com/books/2024/n...

50 years ago this month, Kraftwerk’s Autobahn changed pop music forever. I drove from Bonn to Hamburg to capture the iconic road's sights and sounds – and work out why nobody in Dusseldorf seemed bothered about the band (and yes this WAS a dream commission!) www.theguardian.com/music/2024/n...

I wrote an obituary of Germany's traffic-light coalition: www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

It takes real determination for Anglo commentators to watch France embrace the weird and off-beat in these Olympic ceremonies and then go: “Same old French, sophisticated but sexy, Gauloises, Camembert, oh lá lá”

I’d watched Juliane Diller talk of how she survived a plane crash over the Peruvian jungle in Herzog’s Wings of Hope, but I was still absolutely riveted when she told me her story over three hours. An extraordinary human being.

Venice Biennale’s new, eccentrically was rightwing president has art world guessing www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Adania Shibli says the speech she had prepared for her awards ceremony at the Frankfurt book fair before it was cancelled was on book banning www.theguardian.com/books/2023/n...

A few years ago I wrote about German-language sci-fi novels about post-Brexit Britain. But I don't think even @tomhillenbrand.bsky.social et al would have dreamt up a British PM fawningly interviewing a tech mogul who thinks AI could become your "best friend". www.theguardian.com/world/2019/j...

As Europe’s energy security becomes more reliant on renewables, our relationship with the elements is changing. I spoke to four artists across the continent who try to capture the wind. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Kosovan airport merch is pretty wild

‘We need to tell people everything’: Portugal grapples with legacy of colonial past www.theguardian.com/world/2023/o...

“Hexa-pod, hell-cat, helter-skelter, hop-scotch!”: Marlene Marder’s memoir of Swiss punk pioneers Kleenex/Liliput www.theguardian.com/music/2023/o...