Opinion

The game of football, and the world, has lost one of its very finest

Jailed for being too political, Mikhail Khodorkovsky says it will take a generation for Russia to recover from his former friend’s vicious and disastrous rule

Migrants on the southern border are causing France to re-examine its own history

“In Britain we have hot-water bottles; on the continent, they have sex.” And nowhere is that more true than in Germany…

Welcome to your new, continental playlist

For Beijing’s leaders, globalisation is no longer an opportunity but a weapon

He used to organise Vladimir Putin’s meals. How did he become such a threat to Russia's dictator?

Rishi Sunak is leading a broken government blind to their errors

Charity shops are for the most part either full of dismal tat; or, are like Oxfam’s specialist bookshops: stocked with the crème of the haute bourgeoisie’s discarded… crème

There was something inherently British about Ngozi Fulani and Lady Hussey's reconciliation

Jacob Rees-Mogg isn’t what he seems

Boris Johnson - the man who brought himself down not once, but twice

Even for atheists, some of what he preaches is worth considering as secular moral philosophy

Gianni Infantino ignores the evidence that footballers’ bodies need to rest like any other athletes

Brussels is gripped by fears that Qatargate might expand, with populists and Putin ready to capitalise

Hidden for nearly 200 years, the embalmed organ that symbolises the bond – and tensions – between Portugal and Brazil has now gone public

Sint-Nicolaas will be visiting children in the Netherlands as usual this year – but Zwarte Piet won’t be going with him

Christmas markets defy the logic of “seen one, seen them all”. They just have one thing in common: the magic of the festive season

In the Year of Three UK Prime Ministers, there were more villains than heroes. We remember some of the most memorable

From the moment Qatar got the World Cup they rejected convention and turned on Fifa and its stated values

This is achievable. However, it will take an effort which seems alien to those in public life

England may do better in the future if their fans and media stopped going into every tournament fixated on the past. As is often the case, attitudes need to change

Leaving the EU has left the wine import/export business with a shocking hangover

A new book about Britain’s MEPs charts the political journeys of this quiet army of people still – mostly – fighting for Europe

The point is not the corruption but the response

A backlash against looking perfect on social media has led to “goblin mode” becoming the word of the year

Can this British mercantile mentality ever be changed? Or perhaps the EU is simply better off without us

An eagerness to put ourselves on the ‘right side’ is reassuring. But dragging the dead before a moral tribunal is pointless

Morocco's World Cup success has come through faith, committed defence and seemingly impenetrable will

Britain can no longer avoid the blindingly obvious. But our leaders seem intent on doing so

When the two meet there's danger ahead. But rest assured, German democracy is well-fortified