Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson will go down in history as crawlers and creeps
If we want to understand why democracy is in such trouble, we can learn plenty from the careers of two men who were once stellar figures in democratic politics
Saddam Hussein
Nael Bunni obituary: Engineer who became a leading expert in resolving construction industry disputes
Born in Iraq, he left Baghdad during Saddam Hussein’s regime after being asked to submit a false valuation for work
Dick Cheney was the most influential and consequential US vice-president in living memory
The architect-in-chief of America’s ‘war on terror’ was later vilified for relentlessly hawkish foreign policy
US is again betting that installing ‘our sonuvabitch’ will neutralise an adversary. It never does
Every 20 years the US and Israel attempt to remake the Middle East - always with catastrophic consequences
Two tribes: How Israel and Iran became enemies
The likelihood is that much of Iran’s nuclear capabilities remain intact, and despite calls for regime change there is no sign of Iranians rising up
The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East by Fawaz A Gerges – engaging read for seasoned observers
The scope is perhaps too broad, and the prose a little dry, for this book to appeal to the general reader
Burning question for Europe now is how to deal with an elected American tyrant
Donald Trump’s presidency has also generated a new focus on questions of identity and doubt in Europe
Mike Jackson obituary: British general associated with Bloody Sunday killings
Whatever about his reputation in Ireland he became probably Britain’s best-known post-second World War officer
Priest brought Biafra refugees to Wicklow without permission – and other strange tales from Dublin and London files
Records released by Irish and British archives include details of a ‘republican’ artefact thief and a ‘radical’ UK proposal to hold asylum seekers on a Scottish island
‘Now there is less fear.’ Baghdad’s youth reclaim their city, 20 years after US-led invasion
Post-invasion violence hemmed people into neighbourhoods but Baghdad residents now feel safer and socialise more
A Stranger in Your Own City, and Taking Sides: hard-hitting Middle East journalism memoirs
Lara Marlowe on notable new works by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and Sherine Tadros
Janan Ganesh: The incoherence at the heart of anti-westernism
The West can’t stop its rivals reading it wrong, but it can choose not to encourage them
Maureen Dowd: Putin has trapped the world in his Napoleonic psychodrama
This demonic little man has been watching too many episodes of The Americans
Vast leak exposes how Credit Suisse served strongmen and spies
Bank held hundreds of millions of dollars for heads of state, intelligence officials and human rights abusers
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices