A raft of moral and technical quandaries face the writer of historical fiction as they approach their subject. How much prior knowledge should I assume? Which of several competing narratives should I choose? What language to use? The more that is known about the era and its principal characters, the more pointed these quandaries become.

As tourists in Antigua last week gazed at some of the world’s oldest sailing yachts during the island’s classic yacht regatta, local authorities were fixated on two thoroughly modern vessels. Antiguan officials were working to establish if the ships, Garçon and Halo, belonged to Roman Abramovich, after the Financial Times revealed that the two yachts

The City of London is forever trying on new mantles. In 2012, UK chancellor George Osborne spearheaded a push to make it the biggest renminbi trading hub outside China. Six years later, his successor Philip Hammond talked up the UK’s chances of leading the world in green finance. Now, the Treasury is turning its attention to

There is one method of declarer play that seems curious in its ability to dematerialise losers — seemingly from nowhere — and it all depends on how you look at those 26 cards . . .  BiddingDealer: EastN/S Game North East South West — NB 1H NB 2D NB 3C NB 3H NB 3S NB 4NT NB 5C

French bank shares fell sharply and bond spreads widened on Tuesday as investors priced in stronger presidential election poll numbers for Marine Le Pen, the far-right challenger. The risk of a Le Pen victory has suddenly come into sharper focus ahead of the first round of voting on Sunday as opinion polls showed her gaining

The reports of massacres of civilians in Bucha, close to Kyiv, cannot, alas, be a surprise. In response. Emmanuel Macron argued that, “What happened in Bucha demands a new round of sanctions and very clear measures, so we will co-ordinate with our European partners, especially with Germany.” He added that “on oil and coal, we

Shell paid no tax on its oil and gas production in the UK’s North Sea again last year even as a global energy crunch pushed prices for the fuels to record levels. Tax refunds related to the decommissioning of old oil platforms meant that rather than paying tax on its upstream operations, Europe’s biggest oil

It’s rare to find something new and unprecedented on the London dining scene. But Roketsu in Mayfair claims to be just that – the capital’s first authentic Japanese kaiseki restaurant. Kaiseki derives from Buddhist tea ceremonies and is a formal meal consisting of a dozen or so meticulously prepared dishes served in a prescribed order that

Juan, an evangelical pastor in San Salvador, was running an errand on a Saturday afternoon last month when he came across familiar yellow police tape blocking the road not far from his church. A young man had been murdered. “The worry that came to my mind was, will I make it home today, will I

After I moved to Ireland last year, I came across a captivating book of historical photographs of the country that became a publishing sensation in 2020. The images had been touched up in colour, bringing them to life so they feel almost contemporary. The latest official census, taken last weekend, similarly aims to let the future

The US Treasury said it would halt Russia’s ability to make debt payments in dollars through American banks, bringing Moscow a step closer to a possible default on its obligations to international investors. The move by US authorities threatens to bring an end to a period since the invasion of Ukraine nearly six weeks ago

The US Treasury said it would halt Russia’s ability to make debt payments in dollars through US banks as world leaders sought to punish Moscow for the apparent mass killings of unarmed civilians in Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron urged a ban on Russian oil and coal imports while Joe Biden called for a war crimes trial

Evergrande has agreed to pay the advisory fees of a group of international bondholders in the heavily indebted company after they warned of potential legal action against the Chinese developer. The agreement is with a bondholder group advised by law firm Kirkland & Ellis and investment bank Moelis & Company, according to two people familiar

The author is emeritus professor in the history of international relations at the University of Cambridge Just a few weeks before Vladimir Putin launched what he intended as a two-day Blitzkrieg in Ukraine, taking by surprise even some of his inner circle, he met Xi Jinping for a summit in Beijing. It appeared to the

Pension — or property? As the cost of living increases, it’s getting harder for younger workers to achieve one of these financial goals — let alone both. In this week’s episode of the Money Clinic podcast, presenter Claer Barrett meets 28-year-old Ashley, who works in the tech industry and dreams of owning his own home.

The writer is chief economist of G+ Economics Central banks have made heroic efforts to achieve a rhetoric of normality in bringing rates up from emergency lows. But this comes in a world still gripped by the Covid pandemic, while coping with a war in Europe and dislocated commodity markets. This is a Herculean task, beyond

The decarbonisation of the global economy is at risk unless greater amounts of capital are directed towards the mining industry, the UK’s biggest fund manager has warned. At current levels of investment Legal & General Investment Management reckons the world will not be able to achieve the “huge increase” in supply of industrial metals needed

Beijing has revised its audit secrecy laws in a bid to stop around 270 Chinese companies from being delisted from US exchanges, in a significant concession to pressure from Washington. The China Securities Regulatory Commission, Beijing’s top financial watchdog, said on Saturday it would change confidentiality laws that prevent its overseas-listed companies from providing sensitive

Five Chinese companies listed in New York have been named by US regulators as the first of as many as 270 groups that will be delisted if they do not hand over detailed audit documents that back their financial statements. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said that fast-food giant Yum China, biotechnology groups BeiGene,

As the fiscal bulwark of a young democracy, South Africa’s revenue service was renowned as one of the continent’s most effective tax gatherers. Yet after several meetings with then-president Jacob Zuma, management consultant Bain & Co won major work to restructure it from the ground up. As a result, it has this month been criticised