The new Prime Minister must abandon decades of automatic support for US foreign policy, which makes us all less safe, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
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Leonardo and the dialectics of nature
On the 570th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s birth, JENNY FARRELL takes a look at the techniques that made the great Renaissance painter and scientist’s work so significant
Leonardo’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa (c1503–1506)
Media Lens at 25: David Cromwell and David Edwards reflect on a quarter-century of media criticism, explaining why independent journalism is more important than ever
by Weyman Bennett and Maz’s family
The International Court of Justice has delivered its clearest ruling yet that the right to strike is protected under international law, write Professor TONIA NOVITZ, Professor KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC
Emergency phone alerts could help Britain respond to rising wildfire risk, but Australia’s experience suggests they work best as part of a broader strategy, write ELLIOT CONVERY-FISHER and KATE PARKINS
A champion motorcyclist, trade union organiser and communist, Clem Beckett went from Britain’s speedway tracks to the battlefields of Spain, where he gave his life resisting Franco’s forces at Jarama. GEOFF BOTTOMS pays tribute to this remarkable anti-fascist
LEONARDO DA VINCI was born 570 years ago, on April 15 1452 near the village of Vinci, from which he takes his name.
His mother Caterina was a servant, his father, a professional notary, with whom he was living by 1457 and later with his paternal grandfather. It was during the seven years with his grandfather that Leonardo learned to read, write and calculate.
He never learned Latin, Greek or higher mathematics. Instead, he took up an apprenticeship and ended up in the workshop of a master painter in Florence, which in the 15th century, like much of Italy, was a violent place, where rival merchant dynasties fought each other for power.
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