November 29, 2025

CRUEL INTENTIONS

Thirty years after Diana’s bombshell BBC interview, in which she confessed to having had multiple affairs, Andy Webb reveals the true extent of the Princess’s manipulation into participating …

FALSE FLAGS

From MAGA rallies in the U.S. to England’s Operation Raise the Colours, flags have become a cultural fault line, with one side believing them patriotic and the other xenophobic. Flora Gill reports …

THE FLIGHT OF THE CONCORDE

Former Concorde crew members recall the jet’s golden age—when it ferried the Queen and Prince around the world—and the crash that marked the beginning of the end …

BLACK COMEDY

The Blockhouse, a grim W.W. Il film, should have been Pink Panther star Peter Sellers’s breakout as a serious actor. Instead, writes Richard Morton Jack, a barrage of gaffes turned it into a full-blown farce …

HOLLYWOOD’S YES MAN

David Duchovny has spent the past year writing poetry, touring with his band, grilling big names on his podcast, and shooting a thriller, yet he still can’t bring himself to say no, as Stuart Heritage reveals …

GREAT SCOT!

Alexander Lobrano makes the case for discovering Scotland, from Edinburgh to the Orkney Islands, by rail—aboard the Royal Scotsman, where guests are greeted by bagpipers in full Highland kit …

SELLING POINTE

A former ballerina explains how George Balanchine’s Nutcracker—a money-spinning artistic masterpiece of Christmas trees and Sugarplum Fairies—remains an unshakeable holiday staple …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Our tech columnist Jonathan Margolis is blown away by the iPhone Air … the life and times of Jessica Mitford … the W.P.A. murals of America, all in one place … an Advent calendar we can get behind … and Jean Pigozzi, self-proclaimed father of the selfie, enumerates his favorite things …

Issue No. 333

The View from Here How flags—once symbols of patriotism, from children’s classrooms to Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell’s Union Jack dress—got co-opted by the far right

By Flora Gill

Read On

The Boom Before the Bust From caviar and Dom Pérignon at Mach 2 to the fatal Air France crash of 2000, former members of the Concorde crew revisit the era of supersonic flight

By Lorie Teeter Lichtlen

Read On

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee

The Princess Deception Program Thirty years on, the journalist who first broke the story of Diana’s betrayal by the BBC’s Martin Bashir reveals the true extent of the cover-up—and why her brother believes its consequences were lethal

By Andy Webb

Read On

Buried Alive with Peter Sellers When the great comedic actor agreed to star in The Blockhouse, a grim World War II drama, it seemed like his chance to be taken seriously—but the production turned into a comedy of errors

By Richard Morton Jack

Read On

Gifts for the Artist

What to give the creative contrarian? The nonconformist for whom the biggest sin isn’t bad taste but boring taste? AIR SUPPLY has treats for those who can’t help but invent their own genre

Shop

Photo: Universal/Prod DB/Alamy (MacLaine in Sweet Charity)

Martine Syms’s Favorite Things

The artist, filmmaker, and self-titled “conceptual entrepreneur” likes her holidays laced with cyanide and lip balm

Shop

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (modeling Dalí eye watch)

Not Just iPhoning It In An Apple product that’s genuinely different! A Leica that’s easy to focus! A portable speaker designed by physicists! And more …

By Jonathan Margolis

Read On

shop Sharland England x The Kensington Paperie For those who consider gift-giving an art form, wrapping…

listen The Face of 68 Following a flurry of activity from the dB’s (reissues, a reunion tour) and the Continental Drifters (a retrospective, tribute CD, book)…

read E Is for Edward Edward Gorey made his money by working as a theatrical designer and commercial illustrator, but his first passion was writing books…

watch Love and War War photography is no easy task, to say the least. Add on being a female photojournalist and the task seems nearly impossible…

stay Casa Tre Sarte If you see me on the holiday-party circuit this year, there is a good chance that I’ll be wearing a green gilet from Le Tre Sarte…

treat Sisley The Advent calendar is, for many of us, a cherished childhood memory: open a tiny door and indulge in a square of chocolate…

shop Sharland England x The Kensington Paperie For those who consider gift-giving an art form, wrapping…

listen The Face of 68 Following a flurry of activity from the dB’s (reissues, a reunion tour) and the Continental Drifters (a retrospective, tribute CD, book)…

read E Is for Edward Edward Gorey made his money by working as a theatrical designer and commercial illustrator, but his first passion was writing books…

watch Love and War War photography is no easy task, to say the least. Add on being a female photojournalist and the task seems nearly impossible…

stay Casa Tre Sarte If you see me on the holiday-party circuit this year, there is a good chance that I’ll be wearing a green gilet from Le Tre Sarte…

treat Sisley The Advent calendar is, for many of us, a cherished childhood memory: open a tiny door and indulge in a square of chocolate…

David Duchovny Can’t Say No … … to new projects, self-revelation, and showing up nude on camera

By Stuart Heritage

Read On

Robin Olson On

Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford

by Carla Kaplan

Read On

Ballet’s North Star Holiday tradition! Cash cow! George Balanchine’s production of The Nutcracker has involved audiences in the magic of dance every year since its premiere, in 1954

By Faye Arthurs

Read On

Training Days Is there any better way to explore a country than by rail? The Royal Scotsman makes its case

By Alexander Lobrano

Read On

The Art of the New Deal Long before East Wing demolitions and Trumpian Arc de Triomphes, Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned a series of murals to employ artists amid the Great Depression. A social-media account pays tribute

By Alexander Nazaryan

17

A Works Progress Administration fresco depicting life in California, painted for the Coit Tower, in San Francisco, in 1934.

A W.P.A. mural showing figures of the American Revolutionary War, by Eitaro Ishigaki, at the Harlem Courthouse, in New York, 1938.

*Autumn,* by Marguerite Zorach, at the post office in Ripley, Tennessee, 1940.

Georgette Seabrooke at work on *Recreation in Harlem,* in the nurses’ recreation room at the Harlem Hospital Center, in New York, circa 1936.

*Coal Mining,* by Richard Hay Kenah, at the post office in Bluefield, Virginia, 1942.

*Mississippi Packets,* by William E. L. Bunn, at the post office in Hickman, Kentucky, 1940.

*Contemporary Justice and Woman,* by Emil Bisttram, at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, in Washington, D.C., 1937.

Lucile Lloyd at work on *Origin and Development of the Name of the State of California,* in the State Building, in Los Angeles, 1936.

*Portrait of Contemporary DeWitt,* by William Traher, at the post office in DeWitt, Arkansas, 1941.

*The Life of George Washington,* a series by Victor Arnautoff, at George Washington High School, in San Francisco, 1936.

*Discovery of Ore,* by Betty Carney, at the post office in Chisholm, Minnesota, 1941.

Edward Laning at work on *The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development of America,* in the dining hall of the Administration Building on Ellis Island, in New York, circa 1937.

*Life on the Lake,* by Ethel Edwards, at the post office in Lake Providence, Louisiana, 1942.

*Fishing,* by Ralph Frizzell, at the Nathan Clifford School, in Portland, Maine, 1940.

*Service to the Farmer,* by Davenport Griffen, at the post office in Carmi, Illinois, 1939.

Rockwell Kent standing in front of *Mail Service in the Arctic,* one of two murals he painted in what is now the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, in Washington, D.C., 1937.

*Harvest,* by Joe Jones, at the post office in Charleston, Missouri, 1939.

Read On

Jean Pigozzi

The photographer, collector, and technology investor answers 43 of life’s most pressing questions

Read On

3

Exquisite Corps: a corporate twist on the surrealist table game, Exquisite Corpse.

Was Founded By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

And Is Edited By

Julia Vitale

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Elena Clavarino George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Junior Editors

Carolina de Armas Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz

Deputy Photo Director

Emine Sevim

Deputy Art Director

Zoé Gillette

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Victoria Herman Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

General Manager, Commerce & Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

AIR SUPPLY

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Jessica Iredale

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Milton Esterow Duncan Hannah Jane Larkworthy Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

The View from Here How flags—once symbols of patriotism, from children’s classrooms to Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell’s Union Jack dress—got co-opted by the far right

The Boom Before the Bust From caviar and Dom Pérignon at Mach 2 to the fatal Air France crash of 2000, former members of the Concorde crew revisit the era of supersonic flight

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee

The Princess Deception Program Thirty years on, the journalist who first broke the story of Diana’s betrayal by the BBC’s Martin Bashir reveals the true extent of the cover-up—and why her brother believes its consequences were lethal

Buried Alive with Peter Sellers When the great comedic actor agreed to star in The Blockhouse, a grim World War II drama, it seemed like his chance to be taken seriously—but the production turned into a comedy of errors

What to give the creative contrarian? The nonconformist for whom the biggest sin isn’t bad taste but boring taste? AIR SUPPLY has treats for those who can’t help but invent their own genre

The artist, filmmaker, and self-titled “conceptual entrepreneur” likes her holidays laced with cyanide and lip balm

Not Just iPhoning It In An Apple product that’s genuinely different! A Leica that’s easy to focus! A portable speaker designed by physicists! And more …

David Duchovny Can’t Say No … … to new projects, self-revelation, and showing up nude on camera

Ballet’s North Star Holiday tradition! Cash cow! George Balanchine’s production of The Nutcracker has involved audiences in the magic of dance every year since its premiere, in 1954

Training Days Is there any better way to explore a country than by rail? The Royal Scotsman makes its case

The Art of the New Deal Long before East Wing demolitions and Trumpian Arc de Triomphes, Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned a series of murals to employ artists amid the Great Depression. A social-media account pays tribute

The photographer, collector, and technology investor answers 43 of life’s most pressing questions

Was Founded By

And Is Edited By

Creative Director

Chief Technology Officer

Deputy Editors

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Photo Director

Art Director

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Production Editor

Junior Editors

Deputy Photo Director

Deputy Art Director

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Social Media Manager

Head of Audience Development

Audience Growth Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Technology

General Manager, Commerce & Brand Partnerships

Business Development Director

European Sales Director

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

Shop Editor

E-Commerce Manager

In Memoriam