Culture

The stereotype of hard-working Germans doesn’t hold up under scrutiny – no other country in Europe offers more paid time off

In Gagauzia, a former Soviet splinter caught between Ukraine and the EU, the pull of old bonds and certainties remains strong

In the height of summer, Parisians flee the city as heat and holiday breaks transform the French capital

A seven-week, million-step pilgrimage through Spain brings solitude, extreme heat – and some unexpected hospitality

We should not be fooled by Sunak’s smiley cinema jaunt. The political world he inhabits is a place devoid of mercy, compassion or shame

Though authorities might deny it, La Liga and the country itself has a racism problem. Now one small club in Madrid has had enough

The Wetherspoon owner still believes we were right to leave the EU – but even he admits things have not gone to plan

The California city is now for too many like a plague-ridden medieval Florence, once glorious, now inglorious

Russia seems too tired and depleted to be able to resist tyrannical leaders

From Tucker Carlson to Andrew Bridgen and GB News, populists have lost their grip on the narrative

The city has unveiled the world’s largest underground rail loop, but its celebrated Metro system is not without its sinister side

It wasn’t Hugh Grant or Emma Watson who brought Britain to its knees, but the populist and privileged right

Two young Black Democrats expelled from the state’s legislature are channelling the legacy of civil rights resistance in the South

Photographer Colin Jones’s controversial series of images captured the grim reality of 1970s London for young black people.

The satirical concept of immortal but increasingly senile people in Gulliver’s Travels highlights the societal impact of an ageing population

From Irish Gubbeen to Lithuanian Džiugas – a look at Europe’s favourite cheeses

Germans are renowned for their efficiency – but when it comes to recycling, we need to separate the fact from the fiction

In the literary snake pit, writers and critics tend to either suck up to one another frantically, or bite down hard so as to inject their venom yet deeper

From terrier territories to kitty kingdoms: a rundown of the most popular pets around Europe

A local modern-day bard, serenading commuters and beautifying the neighbourhood, is easily the best eccentric street person I’ve ever known

The sight of tracksuit-wearing Brits entering one of the most beautiful brasseries on the Left Bank left me gasping and prostrated

The case of a pedestrian jailed for causing the death of a cyclist highlights the ongoing power struggle on the pavements of urban Britain

Their heyday was between the 1880s and 1940s. But green concerns about short-haul flights are bringing sleeper trains back in vogue

After all these years (and all those documentaries), no one understands brutalism... especially Nadine Dorries

Karl May's Winnetou and the German soul are inseparable. I'm optimistic the country's icon will evade cancellation

A Michelin-starred underwater restaurant is working wonders for a small coastal community in Norway

WILL SELF on being welcomed in church and religious identity

The actor made his living selling fantasy, but this was far from the reality of Hervé Villechaize's life off-screen, writes CHARLIE CONNELLY

She was an actress and a writer, but more importantly Erika Mann spent her life witnessing and fighting injustice

Actor Stanley Tucci's Searching For Italy is the food travel show we need right now

Bernard Arnault and François Pinault, two of France's richest men and the powers behind some of the world's most glamourous brands, fell out in a business dispute 20 years ago.