Behind the Times

The British Council was founded to help the world better understand Britain and to fight fascism. As times changed, so did its remit.

Members of the House of Lords are traditionally prohibited from giving up their seats. What if a move to the Commons becomes a political necessity?

As new crimes are committed, new laws must be written to punish them. When it comes to crimes committed by states like Putin’s Russia, who decides?

Adipurush, a controversial Bollywood film, has sparked anger in Nepal. For small states with big neighbours, details matter.

How should we view the worrying rise of protesters using symbols of the Holocaust to legitimise their cause? 

Recent royal crises reveal echoes of discontent in 1870s Britain, when disquiet with monarchy manifested in calls for its abolition. 

Was it antimatter? Aliens? An atomic blast? The weird and wonderful theories as to the cause of the Tunguska event show no sign of drying up. Why?

Mongolians have always lived with wolves. During the imperial era, the relationship was an ambiguous one. Under socialism, it became existential.

Hawai‘i’s Mauna Kea is among the best places in the world to study the universe, but the construction of a new super telescope is about more than astronomy.

Where relations between Armenia and Turkey are concerned, the 11th century never ended.