We’re just over three weeks into the second Donald Trump administration, and the pace of events both inside and outside the US has been dizzying and unprecedented.
Many of us have been alarmed by Trump’s shocking pronouncements on the Israel-Gaza war, trade tariffs and territorial claims on Greenland and Panama. But inside America, an equally startling transformation has been taking place.
Aided by the tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump has moved swiftly to fire critics, reward allies, punish media, gut the federal government and exploit presidential immunity. Yet much of the blueprint comes not from Trump’s own policy team, but from a power-consolidation playbook established over the past decade by the Hungarian authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán.
The UK’s status as a world leader in creative industries will be in peril if we fail to nurture art-and-design skills in our schools, argues Tristram Hunt
Let’s fall in love
Laura Parker investigates the boxing, croaking, crooning, dad dancing and even murder that passes for courtship ritual in the animal kingdom
Beauty and the blimp
Could a new airship designed in Britain deliver eco-friendly aviation, asks Charles Harris
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe picks out glass acts in world of garden rooms, greenhouses and orangeries
Soup-er charged
Tom Parker Bowles reveals how to beef up a boozy, hot-as-Hades French onion soup
A leap in the dark
The play of light and shade has long defined Western art. Michael Hall examines what Constable called ‘the chiaroscuro of nature’
The Duke of Richmond’s favourite painting
The owner of Goodwood picks a work that reflects the sporting history of the West Sussex estate
Three wishes for food and farming
Minette Batters calls for the UK to set a self-sufficiency target for producing its own food
Nature and nurture
In the final article of a three-part series, Tim Richardson ponders the innovation and imagination behind the wonderful grounds at Bramham Park, West Yorkshire
The legacy
Amie Elizabeth White applauds altruistic John Ritchie Findlay, who paved the way for Scotland’s National Portrait Gallery
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell backs a winner with a range of horseshoe jewellery
Light work
Tiffany Daneff is dazzled by the transformation of a dark London garden into a light-filled oasis
Foraging
Winter mushrooms are a rarity, but the striking velvet shank earns John Wright’s approval as a welcome addition to game pie
Arts & antiques
Carla Passino marvels at the masterpieces amassed by Swiss collector Oskar Reinhart as the works go on show in London
Wick me up before you go-go
The wick trimmer’s work was never done in candlelit times, discovers Matthew Dennison
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE (February 10, 2025): The latest issue features Rea Irvin’s “Eustace Tilley” at One Hundred – The magazine celebrates its centenary.
The magazine has three golden rules: never write about writers, editors, or the magazine. On the occasion of our hundredth anniversary, we’re breaking them all. By Jill Lepore
Onward and Upward
Harold Ross founded The New Yorker as a comic weekly. A hundred years later, we’re doubling down on our commitment to the much richer publication it became. By David Remnick
The “Intactivists” Campaigning Against the Cut
New York’s biggest foreskin fans take their anti-circumcision message to the streets. By Diego Lasarte
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (February 7, 2025): The 2.9.25 Issue (The Love and Sex Issue) features Mireille Silcoff on Generation X womens’ improving sex lives; Lisa Miller on how weight loss drugs can upset a couple’s intimacy; Daniel Oppenheimer on his realization through couples therapy that the problem in his marriage was him; Stella Tan on confessions from those who ghosted their dates; The Ethicist answers a series of sex related queries; and more.
Baby boomers have safeguarded and perpetuated a grand myth through which they interpret past and present events, and derive motivations. Myth is one hell of a drug.
Baby boomer conservatism arose during the salad days of American capitalism, the apex of American military might, and the drama of the Cold War. That’s all gone and the young right stands at a crossroads.
The non-stop English springer is still our number one working spaniel, reveals Matthew Dennison, as he delves into this enthusiastic, energetic breed
Snake, rattle and roll
Rob Crossan investigates the deeply spiritual origins of that enduring family board-game favourite Snakes and Ladders
Heard it on the radio
The wireless broke new ground as the first form of home-based mass entertainment and is still going strong in the age of the smart speaker, finds Ben Lerwill
Friends with benefits
Nematodes are a natural way to halt the march of all manner of garden pests and Charles Quest-Ritson is a convert
Mould and behold
Josiah Wedgwood was a brilliant businessman with a remarkable social conscience. Tristram Hunt assesses his life and legacy
Catch us if you can
Owain Jones sizes up six of the best as he picks out the players to watch in this year’s Guinness Six Nations rugby extravaganza
Roger Morgan-Grenville’s favourite painting
The conservation campaigner selects a work that inspired his lifelong obsession with seabirds
A Palladian premonition
Richard Hewlings offers a fresh analysis of the architecture at Bramham Park, a highly original West Yorkshire country house
The legacy
Kate Green remembers Robert FitzRoy, the founder of the Met Office whose name lives on in the BBC’s Shipping Forecast
Dear country diary
Paul Fleckney flicks through The Guardian’s Country Diary, which has offered a snapshot of rural life for more than 120 years
Interiors
The best stoves and fireplaces picked by Amelia Thorpe, plus the alternatives to burning logs
Luxury
Hetty Lintell’s top timepieces and James Haskell’s favourite things
Magnificent mahonias
Charles Quest-Ritson makes the case for mahonias, arguing that their pleasantly scented flowers are a seasonal delight
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson pairs peppery horseradish with salmon fillets
Ring-dove beauteous!
John Lewis-Stempel coos over the much-maligned wood pigeon, that canny, keen-eyed and fast-flying stalwart of our countryside
The once-fringe writer has long argued for an American monarchy. His ideas have found an audience in the incoming administration and Silicon Valley. By David Marchese
COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (January 21, 2025): The latest issue features ‘They’ve got charm’ – The fabulous finch family; Which commuter character are you?; Ripping yarns – Jane Austen’s shocking legacy; Marmalade secrets and the wizard quizmaster…
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