The Last Colony: Philippe Sands & Helena Kennedy
“East West Street author Philippe Sands takes us on a disturbing journey across international law sparked by the 1965 establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory and deportation of a Chagos island’s entire population. But the British had reckoned without the determination of one young woman and a four-decade battle with the government of Mauritius. […]
“Funny, you don’t look Jewish”: Authenticity & Identity
Discovering her close friend and boss was a conman prompted Alice Sherwood’s lifelong interest in authenticity and identity, topics she explores in her award-winning book, Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture. With a rich range of stories, many of which – from the world’s greatest impostor, the human chameleon who inspired Woody Allen’s Zelig, to the Bronx-born […]
Sa’ad Khaldi & Trudy Gold in conversation
In 2007 Sa’ad Khaldi, a UK educator with an Arab and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, became the first Palestinian Holocaust Educational Fellow studying with the Imperial War Museum and Yad Vashem in Lithuania, Poland and Israel. In conversation with fellow educator and historian Trudy Gold they explore – in a world where the Arab-Israeli conflict has […]
What’s Next For Ukraine?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has changed the world. From precipitating a refugee crisis throughout Europe as eight million Ukrainians fled their homes, to increased nuclear fears, the threat of famine in Africa and social and economic unrest in Britain, the impact has been seismic and global. What lies ahead? Editor of The […]
Murder at the Old Bailey
Until her March retirement Her Honour Wendy Joseph was one of the just 16 judges licensed to try murder cases at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales – better known as the Old Bailey – and the only woman. In Unlawful Killings: Life, Love & Murder she shares her rare insight from 15 years of presiding […]
Comic Books: When Life is More Absurd than Art
Israeli illustrator, comic book artist and former editor of the Hebrew edition of MAD magazine Rutu Modan on the real stories behind her award-winning comics and graphic novels. In conversation with fellow comics and graphic novel expert Ariel Kahn, Artistic Director of the National Library of Israel’s Comics Residency project will discuss inventing stories where […]
Simon Sebag-Montefiore: The World
“From Alexander the Great to Zelensky, via Caesars and Rothschilds, plagues and love affairs, the latest book from international bestseller Simon Sebag Montefiore is nothing less than the history of humanity itself. In The World: A Family History the historian, novelist and broadcaster takes us from the first footsteps of a family 950,000 years ago right up to present […]
Licoricia: Power & Prejudice
Dubbed ‘totally fascinating, tragic and unforgettable’ by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Licoricia of Winchester, a 13th century Jewish financier, was the most important Jewish woman in medieval England. In turn royal favourite, widow, potentate and prisoner, her extraordinary life took place against a backdrop of civil war, bad government and the ever-present and terrifying spectre of […]
The Future of Food
What we eat has never seemed as crucial – or complicated. Tim Spector is in the top 1% most-cited scientists on the planet; in Food For Life he draws on cutting-edge research to deliver a comprehensive guide to what we should all know about our greatest ally for good health. Broadcaster Dan Saladino won the […]
Lockdowns, Laws & Lost Freedoms
On 26 March 2020, a new law appeared. In 11 pages it confined tens of millions of people to their homes, restricting our freedoms more than any other law in history, justified by the rapid spread of a deadly new virus. Never debated in Parliament, it came into force as soon as it was signed, […]
The Lives of Joseph Roth & Stefan Zweig
After Hitler came to power in 1933, celebrated Austrian – and Jewish – writers Joseph Roth and Stefan Zweig were forced to flee; Roth that very day, boarding a train to Paris. The pair enjoyed a peculiar friendship; in exile, the penniless but, in his own estimation, more talented Roth depended on the commercially successful […]
Leonard Cohen in the Sinai
October 1973: Leonard Cohen is world famous, highly admired – yet unhappy and at a creative dead end. Rather than resort to a more routine rock star response, he swapped his Greek island lifestyle for the chaos and bloodshed of the frontlines of the Yom Kippur War, armed only with his guitar and some local […]