Back of the book.
The Notebook and the Obituary — the meditative, character-led voices not bound to today's headlines.
- Notebook · 15 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
Zvërnec is forty minutes south of Vlorë, the sound is prettier than the news
The Flamingo Revolution has given the world a pleasing place name and an argument about language, land, and who decides what gets built where.
- Notebook · 14 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
Beirut, Washington, Tehran: the geography of a negotiation
Lebanon insists only Beirut handles the peace talks with Israel — but the insistence itself tells you where the room is.
- Bench · 13 June 2026 · By Hannelore Schiff
The stage Kanya King built
The MOBO founder didn't just celebrate Black British music—she gave it institutional heft when no one else would.
- Notebook · 13 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
The Room Where It Happens
Pentagon teleconferences, preparatory calls, direct negotiations—peace talks are mostly rooms with very few people in them.
- Notebook · 12 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
The particular sound of a consulate that is not there
Amid arrests and statements, the Istanbul incident reminds us that diplomatic architecture talks loudest when emptied.
- Notebook · 11 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
The Skagerrak contains mackerel
A minor observation on the sound of place names in a week when they have carried rather a lot of weight.
- Notebook · 10 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
Peru, or the difficulty of counting to thirty-five
In which thirty-five presidential candidates, a word in Quechua, and the phrase 'bicameral legislature' all turn out to mean the same thing.
- Notebook · 09 June 2026 · By Hattie Aldous
The Empty Chair
Cape Verde's election produced a winner, but the real victor stayed home.