*/
The cellist of Auschwitz
By Xan Rice
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was sent to the death camp as a child. Music saved her.
Naz Shah: “The victory is my mother’s, too”
By Samira Shackle
Naz Shah’s defeat of George Galloway was the final step in a remarkable struggle for familial redemption.
How Bruce Hornsby survived a hit song
By Kate Mossman
From the Grateful Dead to Arnold Schoenberg, via Tossers Wood.
Michael Gove, the polite assassin
By Ian Leslie
The Messianic restlessness of the justice secretary.
“Let’s talk about genre”: Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation
The two literary heavyweights talk about the politics of storytelling, the art of the swordfight and why dragons are good for the economy.
Harriet Harman: “You can’t have social mobility if the rungs of the ladder are too wide”
By Stephen Bush
Pre general election, the then deputy Labour leader spoke about feminism, Westminster and her party’s chances.
Tom Stoppard on art, Charlie Hebdo – and why it’s a bad time to be a voter
By Erica Wagner
“Time is short, life is short. There’s a lot to know.”
Liz Kendall: “I didn’t see any point in pretending”
By Stephen Bush
Who exactly is Liz Kendall?
The man who speaks 32 languages – and counting
By Xan Rice
When Ioannis Ikonomou arrived in Brussels as an interpreter, the EU had 12 official languages. He learnt them all – then kept going.
“I think the dead are with us”: John Berger at 88
By Philip Maughan
The life and work of John Berger represents a challenge. How to describe a writer whose bibliography contains ten “novels”, four “plays”, three collections of “poetry” and 33 books labelled “other”?
From war to Westminster: is Labour’s Dan Jarvis a future Prime Minister?
By Xan Rice
In 2007, Dan Jarvis led a unit of paratrooners in Helmand Province. Four years later, he became MP for Barnsley Central.
“I was killed when I was 27”: the curious afterlife of Terence Trent D’Arby
By Kate Mossman
Terence Trent D’Arby’s 1987 debut album sold a million copies in three days. The music press went mad for him. Where was there to go but down?
“He doesn’t understand the poor”: The working class teacher who tried to turn Iain Duncan Smith left wing
By Anoosh Chakelian
Glyn Banks taught English at the HMS Conway school, when Iain Duncan Smith was a 16-year-old student there. He recalls how rightwing the Work and Pensions Secretary was even as a teenager.
Yanis Varoufakis: My five month battle to save Greece
By Harry Lambert
Harry Lambert interviews Yanis Varoufakis, hero of the Greek left.
Keynes’s bulldog: a profile of Ed Balls, Labour’s most polarising politician
By George Eaton
If Ed Balls becomes chancellor, he will be one of the most experienced – and divisive – politicians ever to hold the job.
Michael Moorcock: “I think Tolkien was a crypto-fascist”
By Andrew Harrison
He revolutionised science fiction with symbolism, sex and psychoactive drugs. Now, at 75, he has invented another genre.
Ali Smith: “We are a selfish, idiot generation”
By Erica Wagner
The award-winning author talks Scotland, politics, and why audiences want hard fiction.