United Kingdom
The Talisman of Set
Ancient Egypt was at the heart of the occultism that flourished in Britain early in the 20th century. The stories of two magicians who were shaped by this association — Aleister Crowley and Rollo Ahmed — reveal much about what the period’s magic meant to the men and women who practised it.
Belonging in Today’s Britain
A reflective essay on identity, belonging and the shifting meaning of Englishness in an age of political upheaval explores the migrant experience — from asylum hotels to far-right rallies — and questions what it means to call the U.K. home.
Britain’s Summer of the Right
Hardeep Matharu and Jos Betts join Kwangu Liwewe to discuss how the British right’s relationship to identity is shifting.
Haile Selassie’s Refuge in Britain
In the 1930s, as Ethiopia fell to Mussolini’s troops, Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile in Bath, England, where he rallied global support against the Italian invasion of his country.
The UK’s Fragmenting Politics
The launch of a new left-wing party in the U.K. shows that political fragmentation is unlikely to be quickly reversed, and comes at a time when small electoral changes could have outsize effects.
Beyond Glastonbury’s Gaza Controversy
Protest chants over Gaza led by the punk-rap duo Bob Vylan at Glastonbury have been whipped into a front-page controversy. Yet while the furore deflects from the realities of the Israeli military’s actions, the horror felt by artists and the public at the war represents a turning point.
A Public Letter Criticizing Israel Reveals a Schism Among Britain’s Jews
In a rare move, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews — the oldest body representing U.K. Jews — published an open letter in the Financial Times criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza. What followed the letter’s publication was an uncharacteristically public bust-up within the British Jewish community.