How the crimson blazer became a status symbol in 1990s Russia What do roosters have to do with fashion? And how did Tolstoy’s perfume smell? Fashion historian Marina Skulskaya traces...
As Turkey reels from the detention of leading opposition figure Ekrem İmamoğlu, a Turkish political scientist analyses why this is truly the last exit before autocracy Ok. Imagine a game...
Short work at one of Cognac’s ‘Big Three’. France’s cognac industry is buckling under the double whammy of tariffs and other trade measures placed on it by China and the...
An Italian journalist takes a critical look at the ambient religious and political culture around “natural” methodologies of fertility management. On its website, the secular sounding Italian Confederation of Centres...
In Spain, women are challenging the traditionally gendered norms of rural life. Since time immemorial, life in the countryside has depended on sharply defined gender roles. The gruelling labour of...
An investigation into the legacy of post-communist Romania’s first sex mag. Self-proclaimed misogynist and far-right influencer Andrew Tate moved to Romania in 2017 partly inspired by the country’s reputation amongst...
An exhibition shines a light on six centuries of Basque-Roma culture, history and language This year marks six centuries since the arrival of the first Roma to the Iberian peninsula....
An exploration of the interplay between affliction and ecstasy in a south Italian ritual dance In the sun-scorched landscapes of southern Italy, particularly in Puglia, the country’s heel, a unique...
A Dutch journalist follows those giving the “ugliest city in the Netherlands” a facelift. On the northernmost stretch of the Dutch mainland, where the North Sea becomes the intertidal Wadden...
The Basque country is full of industrial relics, and hungry for industrial land. What’s going on? “Buy land, they’re not making it any more”, the American author Mark Twain is...
In the Jubilee year 2025, an Italian journalist explores how the Vatican is using digital tools and AI to proselytise anew The gap between earth below and heaven above, between...
An Italian journalist explores the links between the iconic telemarketers of the 1980s and selling online today There’s a scene in Paolo Sorrentino’s 2018 film Loro in which a character bearing an...
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