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Neal Ascherson

Neal Ascherson is a journalist and writer

May 2024

  • Russian troops charge down a street with buildings ablaze during the advance through Poland, 1944

    Book of the day
    Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War by Jonathan Dimbleby review – the Red army’s advance into history

  • A stag surveys the land in Glencoe, Scotland.

    The SNP may be laid low but the call of Scottish independence is loud and clear

    Neal Ascherson

February 2024

  • A broken-looking man stares at the camera as he eats his lunch of bread and soup at Camp AW261/4, Uptar, one of Russia’s 1,000 prison camps, 1991

    ‘They ask only not to be forgotten’: Barry Lewis’s heartbreaking portraits of the Soviet Union’s gulag survivors

    Taken in 1991, during the glasnost era, these extraordinary photographs are a powerful reminder of one of the darkest periods in Soviet history

January 2024

  • Defendants in the dock at the Tokyo trial including, left, Tojo Hideki, prime minister at the time of Pearl Harbor.

    Observer book of the week
    Judgement at Tokyo by Gary J Bass review – of war crimes and punishment

    A detailed and sharply observed account of the 1946-1948 Tokyo trials – proceedings that were implicitly racist and hypocritical, and with a prosecution team that was led by a ‘blundering alcoholic’

July 2023

  • 32 - Image of Germans fleeing west in 1944 Some of the Germans who fled or were expelled from the East after 1944. Note the handcarts, which became iconic symbols of flight and expulsion.

    Observer book of the week
    Germany in the World by David Blackbourn review – a rich and full-throated account of the past 500 years

    From the intellectual giants who enriched the west to the descent into dictatorship and war, the story of Germany’s global impact – up to its modern rebirth – is told with real verve

May 2023

  • King Charles III, second from left, processing with his close family members on the day of the Queen’s funeral.

    Traditional monarchy died with the Queen – but are we ready for a republic?

    The future of the royals rests with the personality of one man – and he may be remembered as the king who paved the way for a republic

March 2023

  • Dom Mckenzie The Observer Comment Wither Scotland web version

    The SNP may face disaster after Sturgeon. But the flame of independence still burns

    Neal Ascherson
    Whoever takes the reins in Scotland, statehood is surely an irresistible force

May 2022

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy stands at a microphone with a UN flag in the background

    Surrendering land is not the same as defeat – if a stronger Ukraine emerges from the ruins

    Neal Ascherson
    At the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin will doubtless claim Russian dominance. But what would victory now look like for Zelenskiy?

March 2022

  • TOPSHOT-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-DEMO<br>TOPSHOT - Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via teleconference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia on March 3, 2022. - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow's advance in Ukraine is going "according to plan" and ordered large compensations for Russian soldiers killed in the invasion. (Photo by Andrey Gorshkov / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by ANDREY GORSHKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

    History replays like a half-forgotten song, but once we remember, it’s far too late

    Neal Ascherson
    The west fell asleep on Cold War sentry duty and thought Putin couldn’t be serious, but he was. The question remains, is Nato?

January 2022

  • Douglas Ross and Ruth Davidson

    Scotland’s a conservative country. But Scottish Tories are held back by London HQ

    Neal Ascherson
    As support for the union wanes, the party north of the border is at odds with its southern peers

April 2021

  • Dom Mckenzie

    Is time running out for the union as the case grows for a new independence vote?

    Neal Ascherson
    The UK government has moved to veto two bills passed by the Scottish parliament, strengthening the hand of the SNP

April 2020

  • Puzzled man with an axe on his shoulder looks at a tree with buildings and people on every branch

    After the crisis, a new world won’t emerge as if by magic. We will have to fight for it

    Neal Ascherson
    What will the landscape look like when we wake from the nightmare? The fantasies, and anxieties, about the future are already with us• Coronavirus latest updates• See all our coronavirus coverage

November 2019

  • East German citizens climb the Berlin Wall after the opening of the border was announced

    In place of Berlin’s Wall now stands a barrier of sullen resentment

    Neal Ascherson
    Reunification has only fed resentment and alienation among the ‘losers’ of the old East Germany

October 2019

  • Illustration by Nathalie Lees

    The long Brexit ordeal will finish off the break-up of Britain

    Neal Ascherson
  • American Soldiers At Checkpoint Charlie In The Expansion Of The Wall 1961<br>GERMANY - DECEMBER 04: On December 4, 1961, At Checkpoint Charlie On Friedrichstrasse In Berlin-West, 4 Months After The Start Of Construction Of The Wall That Separates The City Into Two U.S. Soldiers Sheltered Behind Sandbags And Armed With A Bazooka, Monitor Widening Of The Wall By The Soviets To Reduce The Width Of The Entry Point Into East Berlin. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

    Checkpoint Charlie by Iain MacGregor review – Berlin’s secrets and spies

September 2019

  • St Paul’s Cathedral

    Observer special: Britain and the second world war
    Into the storm: the horror of the second world war

    Eighty years ago the worst conflict in history began. It killed about 3% of the human race: up to 85 million people. Some 55 million of those were civilians

March 2019

  • Theresa May with DUP leader Arlene Foster

    Archaic, authoritarian, unequal to the challenge – parliament is broken

    Neal Ascherson
    The Brexit shambles exposes the weaknesses of Westminster, which have grown starker since the 1998 devolution settlement

February 2019

  • Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History Eric with Ticlia, a stray cat which adopted the family on their return from Latin America in 1971 and stayed until her death fifteen years later. ‘She knew Eric was the important one’, Marlene said, ‘because he made the least fuss over her.’

    Book of the day
    Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History by Richard J Evans – review

    An authoritative biography of the great historian focuses on the forces that shaped his worldview

November 2018

  • A ‘peace bus’ celebrates the signing of the armistice on11 November 1918.

    Armistice 100
    Armistice Day: victory and beyond

    On 11 November 1918, jubilant crowds across Britain celebrated the end of the war. But many new struggles were just beginning

September 2017

  • A group of people throw ballots for the referendum in Sant Jaume Square in Barcelona.

    Catalans are not alone. Across the world, people yearn to govern themselves

    Neal Ascherson
    Globalisation was supposed to bring widespread uniformity and benefit. But it hasn’t addressed old grievances
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