{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"May 16, 2026 – Air Mail","description":"Welcome to Air Mail Issue number 357.","favicon":"https://static.airmail.news/assets/icons/apple-touch-icon.png","home_page_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16","feed_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16.json","items":[{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-view-from-here","title":"The View from Here","content_text":"How’s this for a political scouting report? White man in his early 60s from deep-red South Carolina. Progressive views on civil rights and a deeply held Catholic faith. Happily married to one woman for more than 30 years. Three kids. Used to teach Sunday school. Has a loyal dog that sits at his feet when he’s working in his office. Can carry a tune. Speaks from the heart about loss and grief, having lost a parent and two siblings when he was a child. Adept at cracking jokes.I’m not suggesting that Stephen Colbert run for president. I’m merely pointing out that he embodies the phrase “paragon of decency.” ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-view-from-here","summary":"How’s this for a political scouting report? White man in his early 60s from deep-red South Carolina. Progressive views on civil rights and a deeply held Catholic faith. Happily married to one woman for more than 30 years. Three kids....","tags":["The View from Here","But First ..."],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/oqdp1rvgtji5fnlxuyhibqw7zdc2-d49e7a407c4290724d62e0ffb611303e.jpg","author":{"name":"David Kamp"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/david-kamp\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eDavid Kamp\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"It’s Trump’s F.C.C., not Stephen Colbert, that represents a threat to public decency","shorts":false,"banner":"But First ...","category":"The View from Here"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/barry-blitts-sketchbook","title":"Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/barry-blitts-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Barry Blitt's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/9s96zzinq1wsq8h3h0lay5vri0w4-91dfcc220469d4c967446133b3dcb8ae.jpg","author":{"name":"Barry Blitt"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/barry-blitt\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eBarry Blitt\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Barry Blitt's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/an-american-tragedy-in-london","title":"An American Tragedy in London","content_text":"In 2025, more than 8,000 Americans applied to live and work in the U.K. Like generations of expats before them, many installed themselves in the North London neighborhood of St. John’s Wood, where leafy streets, spacious villas, and Lord’s Cricket Ground offer well-to-do Yanks a flattering dose of English life.George Lucas recently bought a $54 million home here, not far from the posh campus of the American School in London, which enrolls around 1,400 students at fees upward of $60,000 per year. The private lives of the area’s well-known residents—Paul McCartney, Ewan McGregor, Kate Moss—unfold quietly behind greenery and gates. But the insularity can be both a blessing and a curse; it is not exactly the convivial, pub-centric existence that London is known for. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/an-american-tragedy-in-london","summary":"In 2025, more than 8,000 Americans applied to live and work in the U.K. Like generations of expats before them, many installed themselves in the North London neighborhood of St. John’s Wood, where leafy streets, spacious villas, and Lord’s Cricket...","tags":["Crime and Scandal","Expats in Extremis"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/eec4i7rdy1tn41xi5d7i1fet8ji6-a4d3dc69fbc1521eb59bfcd7b5dac82a.jpg","author":{"name":"Ashley Baker"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/ashley-baker\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAshley Baker\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Joshua Pack had money, family, and a new life in one of London’s toniest enclaves. Then the private-equity star was found dead inside his palatial St. John’s Wood home","shorts":false,"banner":"Expats in Extremis","category":"Crime and Scandal"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-thorn-in-benjamin-netanyahus-side","title":"The Thorn in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Side","content_text":"In August 2025, an aide to Yariv Levin, Israel’s minister of justice, cautiously made his way up to the ninth floor of a government office building in central Tel Aviv. Satisfied he was unobserved, he slipped into the office of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and, with the quick, practiced precision of a locksmith, changed the locks.The minister and the attorney general had shared this very office when they traveled from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv for hearings and consultations. Two of Israel’s most powerful legal figures, they worked in proximity, if not in harmony. Now, without warning, Baharav-Miara had been shut out—literally. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-thorn-in-benjamin-netanyahus-side","summary":"In August 2025, an aide to Yariv Levin, Israel’s minister of justice, cautiously made his way up to the ninth floor of a government office building in central Tel Aviv. Satisfied he was unobserved, he slipped into the office of...","tags":["News","Tel Aviv Tales"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/871pvak5o1i6juriypyjykdirg1j-c5ad14a8d10831f072cfd57e76b80564.jpg","author":{"name":"Yossi Melman"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/yossi-melman\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eYossi Melman\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"America and Israel are both ruled by leaders with autocratic ambitions. Only one country has an attorney general putting the law above loyalty","shorts":false,"banner":"Tel Aviv Tales","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/inside-the-wiki-laundry","title":"Inside the Wiki Laundry","content_text":"One pebble in the avalanche of woes bearing down on Keir Starmer, the beleaguered U.K. prime minister, was the February resignation of his chief of communications, Tim Allan. The embarrassment lay not in Allan’s work for Starmer but in the alleged activities of Portland Communications, the P.R. company he had founded, which had been accused of engaging in Wiki-laundering—the concerted massaging of Wikipedia pages to bolster an image, bury an embarrassment, or alter a narrative.According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Portland Communications had used paid subcontractors to “polish the public image of Qatar by burying references to ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/inside-the-wiki-laundry","summary":"One pebble in the avalanche of woes bearing down on Keir Starmer, the beleaguered U.K. prime minister, was the February resignation of his chief of communications, Tim Allan. The embarrassment lay not in Allan’s work for Starmer but in the...","tags":["Modern Times","spin cycle"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/2flpzvlx6t79jm94tmifxz0s85s8-51f98782e8aba4cb6f0564a3ad7545e5.jpg","author":{"name":"Joseph Bullmore"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/joseph-bullmore\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJoseph Bullmore\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Wikipedia is the world’s most influential information source—and one of A.I.’s key training grounds. No wonder reputation-launderers everywhere are trying to hijack it","shorts":false,"banner":"spin cycle","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/edward-enninful-on-life-after-vogue-1","title":"Edward Enninful on Life After Vogue","content_text":"Note: This story first appeared in Dress Code, our new fashion-and-style newsletter edited by Rickie De Sole. You can sign up here to receive Dress Code every Thursday afternoonEdward Enninful, the former editor of British Vogue, and the first Black editor in chief in Condé Nast’s history, walks into Esmé’s, a tiny cottage on the grounds of London’s Kensington Roof Gardens, dressed head to toe in 90s black.The fashion-industry stalwart greets me exuberantly, placing a copy of 72, his new quarterly magazine, on the table. It is one arm of EE72, the media company he co-founded with his sister Akua, named for his initials and birth year. “Doesn’t she look beautiful?” he sighs, stroking ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/edward-enninful-on-life-after-vogue-1","summary":"Note: This story first appeared in Dress Code, our new fashion-and-style newsletter edited by Rickie De Sole. You can sign up here to receive Dress Code every Thursday afternoonEdward Enninful, the former editor of British Vogue, and the first Black...","tags":["Style"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/qgar2db7ppnydf0ke76n61rmrpgc-98daf93f4a63510100c1ef24e4a79316.jpg","author":{"name":"Vassi Chamberlain"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/vassi-chamberlain\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eVassi Chamberlain\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"He was once Condé Nast’s crown jewel. Then came the rumors of a rift and a corporate cull. Now the fashion visionary reveals the truth about his “chic” exit, Oprah’s advice, and why his new media empire is just getting started","shorts":false,"banner":"Style","category":"Style"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-air-mail-diary","title":"The AIR MAIL Diary","content_text":"We’re still processing the news from Al Bahnasa—site of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus? Just south of Cairo?—where, Scientific American reported, an excavation team found “a sheet of papyrus inside [a] mummy’s abdomen that contained text from the Iliad, the ancient Greek poet Homer’s epic account of the siege of Troy.” Just a “passage,” fortunately, not all 15,693 lines. But that’s still a lot to swallow. Why don’t you all go on ahead.More than 10,000 men have reportedly applied to compete for a prize of $100,000 here next month in the Sperm Racing Olympics, in which “semen samples from 128 men, each representing a different country, go head-to-head on a microscopic race track,” said the ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-air-mail-diary","summary":"We’re still processing the news from Al Bahnasa—site of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus? Just south of Cairo?—where, Scientific American reported, an excavation team found “a sheet of papyrus inside [a] mummy’s abdomen that contained text from the Iliad, the...","tags":["News","News of the World"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/de9m353qa3kfb63g0oswwouogj80-db88cd1547b819cd77210fe6a122b60e.jpg","author":{"name":"George Kalogerakis"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/george-kalogerakis\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGeorge Kalogerakis\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"The infamous Macron slap, Olympic sperm racers, Céline Dion’s G.D.P. bump, and other strange stories from around the globe …","shorts":false,"banner":"News of the World","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/etiquette-for-befriending-a-friends-friend","title":"Etiquette for Befriending a Friend’s Friend","content_text":"Throughout my life, I have introduced many people who have become close friends. I’ve connected new friends to old friends, work friends to childhood friends, family friends to college friends, and so on. I am, for the most part, totally happy for my friends to become friends. I’m chill! Everybody knows that about me. There have been other times, however, where I have been less than pleased (i.e., regretful of every day that has passed since introducing them). Watching your friends ride happily off into the sunset together can be triggering, but the way in which they go about riding off determines whether or not the trigger is fully pulled, and whether they’re aiming the gun at your leg with a tourniquet nearby, or directly into your face. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/etiquette-for-befriending-a-friends-friend","summary":"Throughout my life, I have introduced many people who have become close friends. I’ve connected new friends to old friends, work friends to childhood friends, family friends to college friends, and so on. I am, for the most part, totally...","tags":["Modern Times","social security"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/jvv9iobbc9kbr8w3fjjcl8p7ttgg-53200df90ab92484cb3eaf53f72b4f91.jpg","author":{"name":"Cazzie David"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/cazzie-david\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCazzie David\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"If you want your friend to welcome your friendship with her friend, it is essential that you follow these rules","shorts":false,"banner":"social security","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/jouissance","title":"Jouissance","content_text":"There are very cool and interesting things happening in fragrance at the indie level these days, and Jouissance is one of them ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/jouissance","summary":"There are very cool and interesting things happening in fragrance at the indie level these days, and Jouissance is one of them ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/1yyhguie6tdff6kcs1jvy35ojo2q-f2704817cf9a9932226cfbdd8e484f8f.png","author":{"name":"Spike Carter"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/spike-carter\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eSpike Carter\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"spritz","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/tumi","title":"Tumi","content_text":"I’ve been on a years-long search for a lightweight, throw-everything-into-it tote bag that can withstand schlepping around","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/tumi","summary":"I’ve been on a years-long search for a lightweight, throw-everything-into-it tote bag that can withstand schlepping around","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/eta03oj59mu183rg2yzh6e6zux04-495b0c0c6c230bebdf7cadf9ccccc170.png","author":{"name":"Hannah Seligson"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/hannah-seligson\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eHannah Seligson\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"carry","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/jim-thompson","title":"Jim Thompson","content_text":"It’s a compliment of sorts that readers best know the noir novelist Jim Thompson from the movies made from his works ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/jim-thompson","summary":"It’s a compliment of sorts that readers best know the noir novelist Jim Thompson from the movies made from his works ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/gmwc331whc1egsu1m17of0z8sph0-27a72faf9d8c6e5278840d8b20b6c615.png","author":{"name":"Jim Kelly"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jim-kelly\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJim Kelly\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"read","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/sandbox","title":"Sandbox","content_text":"At one point, the All-American Rejects seemed to be just a relic of the Y2K punk-rock past. Formed in 1999, they fit the scene ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/sandbox","summary":"At one point, the All-American Rejects seemed to be just a relic of the Y2K punk-rock past. Formed in 1999, they fit the scene ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/twce9tk53kscm18pj5knmmwntovq-ff03cc5e9eee3ec40b4768d3a02f2e1e.png","author":{"name":"Maggie Turner"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/maggie-turner\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMaggie Turner\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"listen","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-blue-gardenia","title":"The Blue Gardenia","content_text":"Mystery! Murder! Moral ambiguity! The Blue Gardenia has all the elements to craft the perfect film noir. Directed by Fritz Lang","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-blue-gardenia","summary":"Mystery! Murder! Moral ambiguity! The Blue Gardenia has all the elements to craft the perfect film noir. Directed by Fritz Lang","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/49i7f5o9p98hig6w6kgdfv2t45j5-8277e0910d750195b448797616e091ad.png","author":{"name":"Eve Eismann"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/eve-eismann\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eEve Eismann\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"watch","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/riviera","title":"Riviera","content_text":"With rising jet-fuel prices, that coastal European vacation you were planning might turn out to be more of a dream than a reality this summer ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/riviera","summary":"With rising jet-fuel prices, that coastal European vacation you were planning might turn out to be more of a dream than a reality this summer ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/7hodzd4lykahbc8dxcz6gg1az35m-4eecaf0abf09f6eddce1304c34a9e16b.png","author":{"name":"Gracie Wiener"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gracie-wiener\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGracie Wiener\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"cook","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/how-to-win-at-the-paris-flea-market","title":"How to Win at the Paris Flea Market","content_text":"When Eugène Poubelle, the then prefect of the Seine, issued a decree in 1883 requiring Parisian landlords to provide their tenants with covered containers to hold their waste (instead of tossing it out on the street), few at the time could have predicted the outcome. Not only would Poubelle’s move be a giant step forward in public health, it also preserved his name for posterity—the French word for trash can is poubelle.But the move was disruptive. Overnight, 40,000 chiffonniers—ragpickers and scrap collectors—who’d once patrolled Paris in the wee hours, picking up and sorting through the garbage, found ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/how-to-win-at-the-paris-flea-market","summary":"When Eugène Poubelle, the then prefect of the Seine, issued a decree in 1883 requiring Parisian landlords to provide their tenants with covered containers to hold their waste (instead of tossing it out on the street), few at the time...","tags":["Travel"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/w2vkn6bwshtm8ueoioxlggt9gsn9-3c753f394b35cf5690c06f44ad02b1cc.jpg","author":{"name":"John von Sothen"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/john-von-sothen\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJohn \u003cem\u003evon\u003c/em\u003e Sothen\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"At the world’s largest antiques market, a new breed of personal shopper helps deep-pocketed visitors navigate the stalls, haggle with vendors, and ship their treasures home","shorts":false,"banner":"Travel","category":"Travel"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/mayday","title":"Mayday!","content_text":"If I could tell you one thing: Don’t be jealous. Don’t let this book make you feel like your life is boring. Like all the best parties are happening without you.First of all, Dafydd and I aren’t always invited to the parties we make art about, but more on that fascinating dynamic later! What I want you to know up front and above all else is that, yes, truly—just like you—I was once sick to my fucking guts with envy when I thumbed through the exquisite Oxford-ball photography of British living legend Dafydd Jones. Are all the better parties always in a different place? A different time? Should I have been born 30 years earlier? Seventy? A century? Two?! ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/mayday","summary":"If I could tell you one thing: Don’t be jealous. Don’t let this book make you feel like your life is boring. Like all the best parties are happening without you.First of all, Dafydd and I aren’t always invited to...","tags":["Books","Open Book"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/jkzqsnyw6fuivdglumpnate3p7kj-321c02371a9b62bacf8c98d7b53d88c4.jpg","author":{"name":"Caroline Calloway"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/caroline-calloway\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCaroline Calloway\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Cambridge’s most infamous party girl tips her hat to Dafydd Jones, the society photographer whose latest book captures more than 40 years of the school’s hedonistic May Balls","shorts":false,"banner":"Open Book","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/bella-maclean","title":"Bella Maclean","content_text":"Dame Jilly Cooper, the so-called queen of the bonkbuster—a charming Britishism for smut—gave us, long ago, an answer to Mel Gibson’s infamous question about what women want: Rupert Campbell-Black. The protagonist of her Rutshire Chronicles—the 11-book series written between 1985 and 2023—Campbell-Black is an Olympian showjumper turned politician and certified playboy who suddenly shows promise toward changing his hedonistic ways when he meets Taggie O’Hara. For many of us, that lucky lady now looks like Bella Maclean, the actress who had her breakout role in Disney’s adaptation of Rivals, the second novel in the Rutshire Chronicles, when it premiered last year. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/bella-maclean","summary":"Dame Jilly Cooper, the so-called queen of the bonkbuster—a charming Britishism for smut—gave us, long ago, an answer to Mel Gibson’s infamous question about what women want: Rupert Campbell-Black. The protagonist of her Rutshire Chronicles—the 11-book series written between 1985...","tags":["Film and Television","Close-up"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/1jhrv0wu2ym2i58n8gb9vnqcn6ja-b28317779c4da744b3c06cc8f56b3754.jpg","author":{"name":"Carolina de Armas"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/carolina-de-armas\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCarolina \u003cem\u003ede\u003c/em\u003e Armas\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"The 28-year-old star of \u003cem\u003eRivals\u003c/em\u003e was shocked to land the lead role in the Jilly Cooper adaptation—but she’s still along for the (very sexy) ride in the show’s second season","shorts":false,"banner":"Close-up","category":"Film and Television"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/lady-chatterleys-legacy","title":"Lady Chatterley’s Legacy","content_text":"“This fictional account of the day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper contains many passages on pheasant raising, apprehension of poachers, ways to control vermin and other chores of the professional gamekeeper. Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material in order to discover these sidelights.”Such was the American Field \u0026 Stream magazine’s unique take on Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Needless to say, it was the “extraneous material” in D. H. Lawrence’s novel that both fascinated and scandalized the public. Banned in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and Japan, it was condemned as ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/lady-chatterleys-legacy","summary":"“This fictional account of the day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper contains many passages on pheasant raising, apprehension of poachers, ways to control vermin and other chores of the professional gamekeeper. Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages...","tags":["Books"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/wdc8qzpvn18yb5iwdnunodf6mt2q-0d6e93fe393f4027b8cb8508fd5a1641.jpg","author":{"name":"Tim Bouverie"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/tim-bouverie\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eTim Bouverie\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Books","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/last-call-at-mezzaluna","title":"Last Call at Mezzaluna","content_text":"I took my first steps on Mezzaluna’s terra-cotta floor. Our restaurant, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, had already been up and running for over a decade by the time I was born. My father, Aldo, opened its doors in 1984, selling salads and carpaccios at a moment when the New York dining landscape was divided, as one critic put it, between old-style red-sauce spots and fancy Frenchified salons with menus the size of a small-town phone book. Carlos and Nicky, members of the staff, were among the first people to visit me at Lenox Hill Hospital.It’s no surprise that I started pre-school without speaking a word of English, because ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/last-call-at-mezzaluna","summary":"I took my first steps on Mezzaluna’s terra-cotta floor. Our restaurant, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, had already been up and running for over a decade by the time I was born. My father, Aldo, opened its doors in 1984,...","tags":["Food and Drink","Food"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/z1p1fqn64m2xoa0gn4sijkbr595b-0e15af5645025de59bfc8e7676de3968.png","author":{"name":"Gea Bozzi"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gea-bozzi\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGea Bozzi\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"With a potential closure looming over the Upper East Side Italian restaurant, the owner’s daughter reflects on growing up in its dining room, and what the future holds for the family business","shorts":false,"banner":"Food","category":"Food and Drink"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/winston-churchills-alter-ego","title":"Winston Churchill’s Alter Ego","content_text":"Remarkably, it was not until he turned 40 that Winston Churchill entered an art gallery. Before then, the closest Churchill had come to art was an affection for cartoons. In the summer of 1915, however, he picked up a paintbrush that belonged to his sister-in-law Gwendoline. Recently fired as First Lord of the Admiralty, and extremely depressed, Churchill took a plunge into painting that lifted him out of the dark mood of the “black dog,” as he called it. Joy returned. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/winston-churchills-alter-ego","summary":"Remarkably, it was not until he turned 40 that Winston Churchill entered an art gallery. Before then, the closest Churchill had come to art was an affection for cartoons. In the summer of 1915, however, he picked up a paintbrush...","tags":["Culture","Highlight"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/3y1orw1u1dqos1q5x1k8gyzcsmio-312f792aa1fa3cf77d6b71201ad89286.jpg","author":{"name":"Sarah Hyde"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/sarah-hyde\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eSarah Hyde\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"An exhibition in London re-introduces Churchill as a painter—a hobby he took up in the summer of 1915, amidst the depressive slump that followed his ousting from the Admiralty","shorts":false,"banner":"Highlight","category":"Culture"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-geisha-next-door","title":"The Geisha Next Door","content_text":"I’d hardly arrived in Kyoto’s brand-new Capella hotel when a maiko, or apprentice geisha, materialized in the intimate reception area and, in front of a small, golden screen, began presenting slow and graceful dances. Afterward, she answered questions (the hardest thing about her job, she said, was keeping her hair intact for long stretches) and posed prettily for photos. Then she handed each of the six of us in attendance a name card and vanished into the dusk.I’ve been living around Kyoto for more than 38 years, and I’d never viewed a private geisha performance before. It seemed ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/the-geisha-next-door","summary":"I’d hardly arrived in Kyoto’s brand-new Capella hotel when a maiko, or apprentice geisha, materialized in the intimate reception area and, in front of a small, golden screen, began presenting slow and graceful dances. Afterward, she answered questions (the hardest...","tags":["Travel","View With a Room"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/fa1ix1o55ypy0atb184cguixskpx-e820cbbdf1c1fc9c3f00265f563bbc85.jpg","author":{"name":"Pico Iyer"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/pico-iyer\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003ePico Iyer\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"At the Capella Kyoto, a new Kengo Kuma–designed hotel in the heart of Miyagawa-chō, travelers gain a rare glimpse into the city’s elusive “flower-and-willow world”","shorts":false,"banner":"View With a Room","category":"Travel"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/alicia-vikander","title":"Alicia Vikander","content_text":"Whoever said you can’t have too much of a good thing is clearly unfamiliar with Alicia Vikander’s filmography. The Swedish actress first broke onto the scene as Kitty, the beautiful yet overlooked Shcherbatsky sister in Anna Karenina. She followed that with a chilling performance as Ava—the seductive A.I.-Judas figure—in Ex Machina, before earning an Academy Award and a host of other accolades for her portrayal of artist and painter Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl, opposite Eddie Redmayne. Now, in The Wizard of the Kremlin, Vikander plays a moral counterweight (Da!) to the corrupt world inhabited by Paul Dano’s political adviser and Jude Law’s Vladimir Putin ( ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/alicia-vikander","summary":"Whoever said you can’t have too much of a good thing is clearly unfamiliar with Alicia Vikander’s filmography. The Swedish actress first broke onto the scene as Kitty, the beautiful yet overlooked Shcherbatsky sister in Anna Karenina. She followed that...","tags":["The Perfect Ending"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/fbqhysz2qlrk8iwecdthvncdo306-ff18a05bb60eeeac35976bd39bc89dfd.jpg","date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":null,"subhead":"The\u003cem\u003e Danish Girl \u003c/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e Ex Machina\u003c/em\u003e actress answers 67 of life’s most pressing questions","shorts":false,"banner":"The Perfect Ending","category":"The Perfect Ending"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/ruby-wrights-sketchbook","title":"Ruby Wright’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16/ruby-wrights-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Ruby Wright's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/wve3alxiq3fud2rbm3pe4rzguslu-73473dc9c0fb847643997d274ee770b8.jpg","author":{"name":"Ruby Wright"},"date_published":"2026-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"May 16, 2026","date":"2026-05-16","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-5-16"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/ruby-wright\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eRuby Wright\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Ruby Wright's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}}]}