VIJAY PRASHAD examines why in 2018 Washington started to take an increasingly belligerent stance towards ‘near peer rivals’ – Russa and China – with far-reaching geopolitical effects
The Gentlemen: meet the real-life upper-crust crims
Guy Ritchie's latest Netflix series delves into the world of bent aristocrats, revealing the dark underbelly beneath their veneer of privilege. Here STEPHEN ARNELL takes a look at some of the real British toffs who engaged in criminal activity
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THE GENTLEMEN continues the writer-director Guy Ritchie’s ongoing fawning obsession with the British upper classes, probably stemming from his privileged upbringing.
Ritchie was privately educated at posh Windlesham House and Stanbridge Earls School. His well-heeled parents John Vivian Ritchie and Amber Parkinson both made prestigious second marriages, respectively to Shireen Ritchie (nee Folkard), Baroness Ritchie of Brompton, and Sir Michael Leighton, 11th Baronet of Loton Park.
It has to be said that when he started out in the movie business, Ritchie obscured his upbringing and adopted the bovver-boy argot of what he imagined was modern-day Cockney to further his career.
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STEPHEN ARNELL sees parallels between the US tech billionaire and HG Wells’s literary creation
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David Lynch’s classic 1980 film The Elephant Man has some cruel parallels with Britain in 2025, argues STEPHEN ARNELL
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Between Musk’s bizarre British power grab and Trump’s overtly corporate agenda, modern robber barons face a growing backlash — and history shows how determined leaders can tame ultra-rich excess, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
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There is no denying Thomas Cromwell's positive and progressive impact on English politics, argues STEPHEN ARNELL
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Inheriting the legacy of the long-running Smash EDO campaign, JOHN LILBURNE reports on the campaign set up to stop the notorious factory on the edge of Brighton that supplies the US, Britain and Israel with bomb components
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