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An alternative thesis on RussiaGate 2.0.

ITV’s revisionist take on Len Deighton's Cold War spy thriller indulges in nostalgia while simultaneously casting a rueful eye over 1960s British politics.

After twenty years of discussing John Le Carrés espionage novels with friends and acquaintances, Ive converged on a one-sentence lede for describing...

Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief 6 published : 20 Dec 2020 at 04:00 6 In the mid-1970s, while travelling on the slowest train in the world from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, I recall reading a substantial chunk of John Le Carres espionage novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Though not a fast-paced book, it still had more momentum than the wretched train. The sad news of Le Carres death last weekend at the age of 89, had me thinking a bit more about that particular book. I have to admit I did ...

Save this story for later. The passing of John le Carré, who has died at the age of eighty-nine, leaves not so much a gap in the market as a hollow space in the world. It is unlikely to be filled. There will not be another writer of his ilk, largely because the ilk was him. On the page—and, by all accounts, in person, though he was an accomplished mimic and would have made a delightful actor—he sounded like himself and nobody else. It was only between hard covers, you might say, th...