Critical thinking, published every fortnight. Read at lrb.co.uk Try the LRB for six months for just £12: lrb.me/socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.ukhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mm2lz4f4wf23‘A powerful Ottoman vizier with slaves of his own and a labourer on a date plantation in Zanzibar could both technically be described as “slaves”, but had little else in common.’ Youssef Ben Ismail on an account of slavery in the Islamic world. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/youssef-ben-ismail/his-favourite-camel17 May 2026 14:45 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm2lz4f4wf23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mm2h3nqigf23‘Curosr announced that the next version of its tool is not going to have an edit window at the centre of the user interface. Which sends a big message: it’s like saying, the next car we make isn’t going to have a windscreen.’ Paul Taylor on AI, on the podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102?i=100076770090517 May 2026 13:17 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm2h3nqigf23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mm2e6nvw6e2b‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭 is at once a pastoral and a work of horror, an uneasy synthesis of the two genres Marlen Haushofer mastered over the course of her career. Some passages echo her lush accounts of childhood, nostalgic enchantments recalling her own upbringing.’ Becca Rothfeld: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/becca-rothfeld/mourning-the-houseplant17 May 2026 12:25 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm2e6nvw6e2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mm2ca37fly2b‘Scanlon is certainly right that it is because humans can respond to reasons that we hold them, but not tigers, responsible. We differ, I suspect, in our views of what it is to respond to reasons.’ Thomas Nagel on T.M. Scanlon’s moral philosophy. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/thomas-nagel/i-m-not-sorry17 May 2026 11:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm2ca37fly2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mm27yjhxpw2r‘The Taliban had roots in Afghan society: it was never going to be excluded from the country’s future. “Withdrawal without winning” was the probable result.’ @tomstevenson.bsky.social on America’s forever war. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/tom-stevenson/we-were-doing-well-when-i-left17 May 2026 11:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm27yjhxpw2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mm23akg5wb2u‘How does the hero shift so quickly from tenderness to hatred? How can he have recognised so late in life that the world is tender and indifferent? Is it? The novel doesn’t answer these questions; neither do the films.’ Michael Wood on François Ozon’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/michael-wood/at-the-movies17 May 2026 09:45 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm23akg5wb2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlzw7li4p32b‘The slither of snakes, the susurration of sacred trees, venerated lakes and much else prompt us to revisit the identity of Europe and its worldwide dispersal through migration and territorial empires.’ Diarmaid MacCulloch on pre-Christian religious practice. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/diarmaid-macculloch/fighting-monks17 May 2026 08:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlzw7li4p32bhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlylhu7t3q23‘Freeports and bonded warehouses, free-trade zones and forged bills of lading, under-invoicing and over-invoicing: all these things provide opportunities to camouflage the flow of illicit money.’ John Lanchester on money laundering. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/john-lanchester/squillions16 May 2026 19:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlylhu7t3q23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlyhki3uii2b‘If, as Labour has started to suggest, Starmer’s government really is the most progressive in forty years, that is more a verdict on its predecessors than any blazon of radicalism.’ James Butler (@piercepenniless.bsky.social) on the local elections. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/james-butler/short-cuts16 May 2026 18:20 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlyhki3uii2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlyer5duly2r‘Several artefacts sent to Europe in this period appear to be the repurposed spoils of battle: helmets, cuirasses and whole suits reworked for diplomatic use.’ Ben Walker on the story behind a samurai suit. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/ben-walker/samurai-suits16 May 2026 17:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlyer5duly2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlycjlrl532z‘The obvious conclusion is that occupied Palestine is largely empty. Palestinians can return home without much displacement of the settlers.’ Salman Abu Sitta on the right to return home, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/right-of-return16 May 2026 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlycjlrl532zhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlyac3kjnb23‘None of the 325 stories mentioning “hate marches” since the Golders Green attack have used the term to refer to Tommy Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom, Unite the West” protest in central London.’ @desfreedman.bsky.social on what gets called a ‘hate march’, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/hate-marches16 May 2026 16:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlyac3kjnb23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mly5v6twfi2r‘In 2024, anti-immigrant protesters targeted mosques and asylum hotels across the country. Dozens were jailed for violent offences, but only thirty stories in the UK media referred to the demonstrators as “hate mobs”.’ @desfreedman.bsky.social on ‘hate marches’. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/hate-marches16 May 2026 15:27 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mly5v6twfi2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mly3k7arhi2wThere will be no shelter here tonight, only the long road to the land of strangers. Every house will be stripped and every roof caved in, as each man, woman, and child is made to bear on their back the sum of a life. A poem by Tarn MacArthur (@tarnnation.bsky.social). https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/tarn-macarthur/the-clearance-of-aoineadh-mor-182416 May 2026 14:45 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mly3k7arhi2whttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxwmqezv32z‘Harrison’s life and career, like that of his friends and collaborators, was part of the postwar flowering of the avant-garde, which had an unprecedented influence on mainstream American culture.’ Alex Cocotas remembers the cinematographer Harrison Starr. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/alex-cocotas/diary16 May 2026 13:17 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxwmqezv32zhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxtprkzva2j‘The princely burials and great halls that appear in the archaeological record from around 600 mark the elevation of a small number of leading families to the status of regional kings. These kingships varied in scale.’ Nicholas Higham on England’s early kings. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/nicholas-higham/sword-s-edge16 May 2026 12:25 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxtprkzva2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxrraiyw42b‘When the first passenger died onboard in the South Atlantic on 12 April, the nearest port was Tristan da Cunha, two and a half days away, with a population only slightly larger than that of the 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘴.’ Liam Shaw on the hantavirus outbreak, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/plague-ships16 May 2026 11:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxrraiyw42bhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxpjlrqxc2j‘The narrator’s existence has the fey quality of a fairy tale. But if there are elements of a childhood fantasy in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭, it also has a dystopian undercurrent.’ Becca Rothfeld on the Austrian novelist Marlen Haushofer. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/becca-rothfeld/mourning-the-houseplant16 May 2026 11:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxpjlrqxc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxnc4sgxy23‘It might be that the success criteria for what’s good in coding are reasonably easy to establish. Does it run? Does it do what it’s supposed to? That may be easier to check than a marketing blurb.’ Paul Taylor on AI and the future of work, on the podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102?i=100076770090516 May 2026 10:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxnc4sgxy23https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxldjyu352h‘Why does adulthood demand such rigid, unimaginative responses? Why does a novel about dying demand seriousness? Amie Barrodale loves a moment of manic slapstick.’ Nicole Flattery reads 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/nicole-flattery/zip-him-in-a-bodybag16 May 2026 09:55 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxldjyu352hhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxj6vd5xh24‘We want to see continuity in print, but it took a lot of actual and ideological work to make the printed word actually do the things that it came to stand for.’ @tomlukejohnson.bsky.social on William Caxton and the story of the English printing press. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/tom-johnson/at-senate-house-library16 May 2026 09:16 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxj6vd5xh24https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxfqoamtp2oCan they be made, by the Neo-Mineralists, Say? Can they be struck and struck at the heart, With the light? There is a ray from nowhere The artist depends on; the lover, too, to make You most beautiful ‘Rosarita’, a poem by @tricialockwood.bsky.social. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/patricia-lockwood/rosarita16 May 2026 08:15 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxfqoamtp2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlxdaave5c2j‘Despite regular demonstrations of bigotry on the world’s streets, more than 99 per cent of stories that mention “hate marches” have been published since 7 October 2023 and have focused on anti-racist protesters.’ @desfreedman.bsky.social on ‘hate marches’. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/hate-marches16 May 2026 07:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxdaave5c2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlw2ps2owo24‘The book’s cosmology doesn’t harmonise with its message, and even contests it. If the Earth is not our only home then the viability of the planet recedes in importance.’ Adam Mars-Jones reads George Saunders’ new novel 𝘝𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘭. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/adam-mars-jones/another-ilk15 May 2026 19:25 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlw2ps2owo24https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlvyr7iq7u2o‘Appealing to scripture in order to lend religious legitimacy to slavery isn’t unique to Islam: the Bible was frequently used to justify Atlantic slavery.’ Youssef Ben Ismail on an account of slavery in the Islamic world. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/youssef-ben-ismail/his-favourite-camel15 May 2026 18:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvyr7iq7u2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlvwjqgaid2w‘Cruise ship operators hate the negative press attention that outbreaks bring, but they’re a subject of fascination for epidemiologists.’ Liam Shaw on the hantavirus outbreak, from the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/plague-ships15 May 2026 18:10 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvwjqgaid2whttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlvuc7wj6r2o‘Although they never managed Roman-style conquest – hemmed in by geography, revolt and circumstance – the Ptolemies and their citizens held on for three centuries. They were the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms to succumb to Rome.’ Robert Cioffi: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/robert-cioffi/pharaoh-in-all-but-name15 May 2026 17:30 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvuc7wj6r2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlvs2mxoy623‘Three great figures – Scholem, Brecht and Adorno – tried to save Benjamin, and all failed. Benjamin understood our times in terms of ruins, remnants, still-warm embers, not in the terms dictated by the victors.’ Eli Zaretsky on the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/walter-benjamin-s-would-be-rescuers15 May 2026 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvs2mxoy623https://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlvpigj6432r‘According to Scanlon, morality does not emerge when we take an impartial, impersonal perspective on humanity; it emerges from the one-to-one relation each of us has with each other individual.’ Thomas Nagel on T.M. Scanlon’s moral philosophy. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/thomas-nagel/i-m-not-sorry15 May 2026 16:04 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvpigj6432rhttps://bsky.app/profile/lrb.co.uk/post/3mlvnwucdp22u‘After Tommy Robinson’s last outing in London in 2025 there were 22 arrests, including six for violent disorder. But the phrase “hate marches” continues to be used overwhelmingly for pro-Palestine protests.’ @desfreedman.bsky.social on new on the blog. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/may/hate-marches15 May 2026 15:36 +0000at://did:plc:63zjpqfhowjsbfl26dipg3e2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvnwucdp22u