Lynn Barber

1 month ago | thespectator.com | Lynn Barber |James Cahill |Alexander Larman |Susie Mesure

How do you make the life of Woody Allen unbearably dull? Mainly by retelling the plots of every one of his movies, along with lists of cast and crew, box-office receipts and critical reactions. And there are so many movies — fifty so far, but there’ll probably be another by the time you read this. Long ago, Allen got into the habit of making a film a year, and so he goes on. He once said he was “like an institutionalized person who basket-weaves” — he couldn’t stop.

May 20, 2024 | thespectator.com | Limor Simhony Philpott |Jawad Iqbal |Max Jeffery |Lynn Barber

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet is at risk of falling apart as the country’s defense establishment turns on him. On Saturday night, Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party and a member of Netanyahu’s coalition, issued the prime minister with an ultimatum. In an extremely critical speech, Gantz blamed Netanyahu for letting personal interests interfere with decisions of national security and allowing a group of extremists to take the helm.

May 20, 2024 | thespectator.com | Jawad Iqbal |Max Jeffery |Lynn Barber |Catriona Olding

Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have been killed in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, according to the country’s state media. The news that Raisi — second only to the country’s supreme leader in the power structure — and Amir-Abdollahian — a critical and influential figure in the ruling circle — have died could not have come at a trickier and potentially more dangerous time.

May 19, 2024 | thespectator.com | Max Jeffery |Lynn Barber |Catriona Olding |Amy Everett

It’s fighting season in Afghanistan again. When the Americans were in charge, after the poppy fields had been harvested in late spring, and the madrassas in Pakistan that supplied the Taliban with fanatical soldiers had finished for the term, the Islamists kicked off the fighting. Between 2001 and 2021, around 200,000 people died. Now an insurgent group called the National Resistance Front are starting the annual springtime assaults, this time against the Taliban government.

May 18, 2024 | thespectator.com | Lynn Barber |Catriona Olding |Amy Everett |Klaus Dodds

Tom Baldwin declares at the outset of Keir Starmer: The Biography: “It’s only fair to warn those hoping to find these pages spattered with blood that they will be disappointed.” Fair enough. This is not an authorized biography, but it is a friendly one, written with Keir Starmer’s co-operation. Baldwin briefly worked as Britain’s Labour Party’s communications director, and then was asked to help Starmer with his autobiography.