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  • A letter from Syria

    Reporting from the Turkey-Syria border, Padraic Rohan asks whether the West's refusal to aid rebels in ousting Bashar al-Assad is feeding Islamist extremism

  • The chosen ones

    Early in the race for the White House both parties pledged to steer clear of religion. As it comes down to the wire have they kept their word? Abby Ohlheiser reports

  • Book review: The Dictator's Learning Curve: Inside The Global Battle for Democracy

    With Mubarak and Gaddafi vanquished, and Assad clinging on, there couldn't be a more auspicious time for a book about how dictators have adapted to modernity. Right time, right subject, but wrong book says Stephen Howe.

  • Lessons unlearnt

    With its cast of blood-thirsty mullahs, equivocating politicians, apologetic liberals and artists requiring police protection, Salman Rushdie’s memoir of the fatwa years couldn’t be more timely, says Kenan Malik

  • Jokers in the pack

    As David Cameron’s reshuffle shifts the Coalition to the right, Sarah Ditum warns of trouble ahead for women's rights

  • Book review: Radical by Maajid Nawaz

    Alom Shaha admires the honesty of a former Islamist

  • Ghost towns and checkpoints

    In the West Bank, Bidisha observes the psychological consequences of Israeli occupation

  • The tax battle turns Biblical

    Those arguing for tax cuts are finding justification in the Old Testament. Martin Robbins reports

  • Still reaching: New Humanist interviews John Amaechi

    He’s played basketball at the highest level and was the first major league sportsman in America to come out as gay. Now he’s a psychologist, an OBE and an outspoken atheist. Musa Okwonga gets the measure of John Amaechi

  • Mormon momentum

    With Mitt Romney all but confirmed as the Republican nominee for the Presidency the US is having a bit of a 'Mormon Moment'. But will he attract the all-important votes from evangelicals who don't think Mormonism is a proper faith? Abby Ohlheiser reports