Journalism

Generation Terrorists

Such, at least, is Townshend’s recollection of the conversation. He had endured these sorts of dispiriting exchanges with Daltrey before, and decided to press on regardless. One of the first songs …

The Architecture of Wellness

Zaha Hadid, the most acclaimed female architect of our age, has struggled for years with a hurtful dilemma. Despite her fame and success, despite an international reputation that has seen …

Polar Bears On Thin Ice

Not so long ago polar bears were a symbol of cold, but these days they are a symbol of warmth. It has become difficult to open a newspaper or web page without seeing photographs of …

Tall, Short, and Peter Crouch

In the dim and trivial past, when some of us on this fragile planet still gave a moment’s thought to the marriage of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the big issue was not the prenup, the dress or …

Under Their Skins

For a while in the late Sixties and early Eighties, Britain fostered a youth cult so iconic in its imagery, and so threatening in its pose, that we remain ashamed of it decades later. Steel-capped …

The Olympic Allotment

At their heart, allotments are about stories. Every owner has a story, and every planting has one, and if you gather them all together in one place – the waiting-list sagas, the slug invasions, the …

Jake’s Progress

In September 2006, something unusual started happening to my thirst. I was drinking more than I had ever done before, mostly water, and after one glass I wanted another. For a day or so I …

Accidental Hero

On Sunday 1 July, John Smeaton woke up at his family home in Erskine, on the outskirts of Glasgow, to find he had not yet become a star. But it was only a matter of hours. He was on his way …

Alan Johnston

At the beginning of March, even people at the BBC hadn’t heard of Alan Johnston. He was 44 and bald, and his work as a reporter in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Gaza had earned him a …

Granta at 100

A few minutes after lunching with Ian Jack, who departed as editor of Granta earlier this year after 12 years and 48 issues, I dropped into Quinto, the second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross …

Category