United Kingdom
No Country for Black Stars
The outrage over a display of frustration by England soccer star Jude Bellingham on the pitch continues a long-standing British discomfort with Black brilliance, exposing how soccer remains a battleground for national anxieties about race and belonging.
Marmalade's Unstoppable Spread
Marmalade has become a global passion. How did this staple of the British breakfast table become the focus of a competition in England’s Lake District that hosts over 3,000 jars flown in from all over the world?
The Magic of Egypt in Interwar Britain
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.
Reckoning With Belonging in 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.