Ben Macintyre



Profile:
Full name: Ben Macintyre

Area of interest: Current affairs, politics, historical controversy

Journals: The Times

Email:

Website: TimesOnline

Blog:

Representation:

Network:



Biography:
Education:

Career: The Times: Editor of the Weekend Review, parliamentary sketchwriter, Washington bureau chief, Paris bureau chief

Viewpoints/Insight: Booksense interview

Controversy: Books: Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche, 1992 (ISBN 0374157596); The Napoleon of Crime, 1998 (ISBN 0006550622); A Foreign Field, 2002 (ISBN 0006531717); The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I, 2003 (ISBN 0385336799); Josiah the Great, 2005 (ISBN 0007151071); Agent Zigzag OCLC 77004296, 2007

Latest work: Operation Mincemeat OCLC 4498345 January 2010

TV/Radio:

Video:

Awards/Honours:

Advisory posts:

Speaking/Conferences:

Other:



The Times:
Column remit: Current affairs, Politics, Historical Controversy

Section: Comment

Role: Columnist, 'writer at large', associate editor

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: TimesOnline

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Friday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 950 words



Articles:

 * I’ve stopped collecting I feel complete'' - I am finally finished with this strange and gentle form of British male madness. But why did I start in the first place? - 19th July 2011
 * great leap of madness exposed'' - Mao’s Great Famine by Frank Dikötter is a harrowing and brilliant book, meticulously researched, gripping and supremely important - 12th July 2011
 * must not renege on its wartime debts'' - This refusal to restore goods and property looted by the Nazis is a continuing stain on the national character - 5th July 2011
 * that a hero or a coward behind the mask?'' - Online anonymity is precious for Middle East protesters — but that freedom is abused by hackers and bullies - 28th June 2011
 * revolt won’t be buried like Hama was'' - In 1982 Hafez Assad razed a city to crush a rebellion. In the age of YouTube his son no longer has that option - 21st June 2011
 * long walk from Leigh Fermor to Obama'' - Even in the age of Google Earth and Wikipedia, travel writing is not dead; it just appears in other guises - 14th June 2011
 * the DNA era, there are no unknown soldiers'' - Once mass killers could hope that they and their victims would stay unidentifiable. Now science is fighting back - 7th June 2011
 * are not amused? Prince Philip couldn’t care less'' - The Duke of Edinburgh is a monument to a vanishing form of humour. We should celebrate him while we still can - 31st May 2011
 * bifocal view has Britain in sharp focus'' - Through his grandfathers the US President sees two sides of our past – wartime bravery and colonial cruelty - 24th May 2011
 * unfaithful servants of the people'' - Britain may be too censorious about its politicians’ sex lives but nudge-nudge admiration is no less misguided - 17th May 2011
 * truth will out. Obama should know this'' - While Britain is now intent on opening up the past to public scrutiny, America seems to be as secretive as ever - 10th May 2011
 * Laden: the false prophet who failed to steal history'' - A fraud, a coward and an historical vandal, bin Laden peddled a partial view of the past to further his barbaric cause - 3rd May 2011
 * pox on those who’d keep this deadly virus'' - By destroying the last stocks of smallpox we can finally bring an end to a toxic microbial arms race - 26th April 2011
 * Aim. Fire. Tidy desk. Go back home'' - Is it really warfare when machines replace men — and risk, self-sacrifice, horror and bravery are taken away? - 19th April 2011
 * device No 1: the legal rubber stamp'' - Whether tackling the Mau Mau or suspects in Guantánamo, it is always wrong to put policy before the law - 12th April 2011
 * bare-chested cheek of a French thinker'' - Whether he’s muscling into queues or conflicts, Bernard-Henry Lévy doesn’t know his place. Thank goodness - 29th March 2011
 * that beat Rommel may fox Gaddafi too'' - The conflict in Libya today has remarkable parallels with the battles of 1941-42 – as the Colonel might appreciate - 22nd March 2011
 * quakes leave the Japanese unshakeable'' - They call it ‘gaman’ – the unflappable stoicism that helps this nation survive whatever nature throws at it - 15th March 2011
 * dogs of war must be on a tighter leash'' - The UK is so reliant on private military companies that it may no longer be able to fight without them - 8th March 2011
 * is too keen to trade on his royal status'' - ‘Air Miles Andy’ should beware the anger aroused when lesser members of a ruling clan live too high on the hog - 1st March 2011
 * model dictatorship is turning to dust'' - For all his seeming madness, the Libyan leader’s antics have been cleverly calculated to keep his people in check - 22nd February 2011
 * rare event – an artist displays intelligence'' - Until now, our images of MI6 came from Smiley or 007. Now a series of paintings exposes the blunt reality - 15th February 2011
 * novel handbook to Egypt’s revolution'' - To understand what is happening in Tahrir Square a surprise bestseller by a Cairo dentist is required reading - 8th February 2011
 * America needs True Grit once more'' - The Coens’ remake of a classic western pays proper respect to a great novel that has striking modern resonance - 1st February 2011
 * – it’s absolutely super-duper'' - Where once India copied the language of the Raj, it now produces its own confident and flourishing version - 25th January 2011
 * last Hollywood history is no longer bunk'' - Nitpickers, beware, there’s not much wrong with The King’s Speech. The movie industry has new respect for the past - 18th January 2011
 * new opening in Afghanistan’s theatre of war'' - A fringe play transferring from London to the Pentagon will teach soldiers that their enemy’s history is their own - 11th January 2011
 * colonial legacy still poisons Africa'' - Ivory Coast’s spiral into chaos is exacerbated by the reluctance of Paris to give up power in its former possessions - 4th January 2011
 * are the Chaco’s friends. Let them in'' - An ‘uncontacted’ Paraguayan tribe must be protected from intruders, but today’s researchers mustn’t pay for past crimes - 28th December 2010
 * should listen to Lawrence of Afghanistan'' - The hero of the Arab revolt pioneered modern insurgent warfare and still offers the best insights into defeating it - 21st December 2010
 * Tyrant TV and Iran’s ratings are slipping'' - From Ancient Rome to the Nazis, parading your enemies is not a sign of despotic power but of weakness - 14th December 2010
 * spying isn’t dead. It’s merely sleeping'' - We are obsessed with honey traps, hair colour and Mata Hari. We should take Moscow’s women agents more seriously - 7th December 2010
 * ctrl WikiLeaks will mean more del'' - Enjoy this stash of secrets while you can: diplomats are unlikely to leave their electronic tracks uncovered in future - 30th November 2010
 * succeeds like the right succession'' - Women tend to make the best monarchs. Anne should be next in line, with Queen Zara (and King Mike) to follow - 23rd November 2010
 * no man happy until he’s on our index'' - David Cameron wants to measure national contentment, not economic growth. But you can’t engineer satisfaction - 16th November 2010
 * history of the world in black and white'' - The President was a voracious reader about the past but overlooked its complexity - 10th November 2010
 * entente is about to get even more cordiale'' - After centuries of enmity, Britain and France will make common military cause. But the idea is older than you think - 2nd November 2010
 * and very nasty, the gun for all seasons'' - The Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle has done more damage to the world than many more sophisticated weapons - 26th October 2010
 * Abbey, 1912 – why, it’s just like 2010'' - The television series presents a picture of an elegant, untroubled age. The reality, like today, was very different - 19th October 2010
 * and Chile: a marriage of true mines'' - A century ago one in ten of our male workers was a miner. No wonder we’re fascinated by the San José drama - 12th October 2010
 * in MI5, spy as the Romans spied'' - The toga-and-dagger world of classical espionage has intriguing parallels for the modern security services - 5th October 2010
 * this Unholy Trinity the grandson also rises'' - The Kims have used all the trappings of religious fervour to establish their dynastic dictatorship in North Korea - 28th September 2010
 * James Bonds don’t use the licence to kill'' - Britain’s wartime spy chiefs knew assassination was counterproductive. It’s a lesson the CIA should learn - 21st September 2010
 * British take to moaning, not to the streets'' - Our winters of discontent are a grim contrast with flamboyant French industrial action - 14th September 2010
 * who won Blitz’s ‘Battle of the Beams’'' - The unsung Reginald Victor Jones used radio waves to successfully counter the Luftwaffe’s deadly attack on Britain - 7th September 2010
 * and espionage, an ideal partnership'' - The dismay at the exposure of the Cambridge spy ring has an echo today in the Pakistan betting imbroglio - 1st September 2010
 * your head. This is hallowed ground'' - Barack Obama’s biggest mistake as President has been underestimating the feelings over Ground Zero - 24th August 2010
 * to a plate near you: the Frankenfurter'' - Artificial meat grown in a vat of chemicals may not make the mouth water, but it could solve the world food crisis - 17th August 2010
 * quiet on the Afghan fiction front'' - A decade of warfare has yielded some brilliant nonfiction. But no novels - 10th August 2010
 * tuna, the fish that is too tasty to live'' - Man’s uncontrollable appetite has driven the Porsche of the seas to the brink - 3rd August 2010
 * and bias and golden nuggets of truth'' - Today’s political memoirs are not the first draft of history - 13th July 2010
 * a mix of fact, fiction and fear'' - Anna Chapman fits a compelling narrative — that our enemies live among us - 6th July 2010
 * poverty: plant a city in a failing one'' - Hong Kong model: rich nations pair with developing ones to start special economic zones - 29th June 2010
 * water everywhere, so not a drop to drink'' - The Shatt al-Arab, which once watered the Garden of Eden, has been brutalised by war, politics and greed - 27th June 2010
 * Gaulle would have hated the Saville inquiry'' - The French leader glossed over his nation’s shortcomings. But sometimes cold examination of the truth is needed - 15th June 2010
 * must address his rhetorical deficit'' - Churchill understood the power of words. In today’s economic crisis the Prime Minister needs to find his voice - 8th June 2010
 * it’s hard to stop paying the price of fame'' - Fifty years ago Harper Lee could turn her back on celebrity. Now Susan Boyle seems inescapably trapped in its spotlight - 1st June 2010
 * we stay humane, even in the hell of war?'' - Moral lines have been blurred on torture: our leaders should remember how the Allies fought with integrity - 25th May 2010
 * and Clegg: who is more upper crust?'' - It’s an intriguing, very British – and entirely pointless – pastime to work out which of our leaders is the posher - 18th May 2010
 * partners in this relationship must move on'' - It’s no longer special between Britain and the US. There are now pragmatists on both sides - 11th May 2010
 * in Prestatyn, never reaching the end'' - Rare roast lamb on the Tory plane, curly sandwiches on Brown’s bus. Why I love being trapped on the trail - 5th May 2010
 * in Prestatyn, never reaching the end'' - Rare roast lamb on the Tory plane, curly sandwiches on Brown’s bus. Why I love being trapped on the trail - 4th May 2010
 * there a bit of the baroness in Clegg?'' - Lib Dem leader’s remarkable great-great-aunt was a double agent who knew how to play both sides - 27th April 2010
 * to parties: the slogan isn’t working'' - So far not one catchphrase has stuck in this campaign. The electorate is too cynical to swallow empty phrases - 20th April 2010
 * dark times Poland needs the truth'' - Conspiracy theories grow out of secrecy. The Smolensk air crash investigation must be open - 13th April 2010
 * disaster or a birthday present for Blair?'' - Tony Blair was born on May 6. Some of Gordon Brown’s supporters may feel that this is a good omen, a sign that he will at last eclipse the man who stood for so long between him and the premiership - 7th April 2010
 * Ordnance Survey maps are a treasure'' - The mapping revolution has had a breakthrough. But too many Ordnance Survey jewels are still locked away - 6th April 2010
 * Churchill: an unlikely adviser in the Afghan conflict'' - The commander of US and Nato forces has been seeking guidance from the British statesman, who visited the Afghan-Pakistan border in 1897 - 30th March 2010
 * Obama must justify covert killing. Or halt it'' - It’s not just Israel that is eliminating its enemies. The US is pursuing a programme of state-backed assassination - 25th March 2010
 * shirts and blitzkrieg? It’s just not cricket'' - Hitler’s First XI was also his last. His aim to Nazify the sport was stumped by good manners and fair play - 18th March 2010
 * the Crimea. Look after the Army'' - The scandalous underequipping of soldiers in Afghanistan has uncomfortable echoes of 150 years ago - 11th March 2010
 * 17th-century power behind the Tory throne'' - The Conservatives want to present a modern face but the shadowy Lord Ashcroft belongs to a different era - 4th March 2010
 * Orwell foretold, Kim Jong Il is watching you'' - In the year that Nineteen Eighty-Four was published, the benighted North Korean state was born. Find the connection . . . - 25th February 2010
 * girl who stormed on to the bestsellers’ list'' - All the great fictional detectives hold up a mirror to their times, and Stieg Larsson’s bisexual Goth geek is no different - 18th February 2010
 * we’re less secret – but probably less safe'' - The decision to release material on the torture of Binyam Mohamed was right. But secrecy is still vital to government - 11th February 2010
 * be deceived, first you must deceive yourself'' - Whether in Hitler’s high command or Blair’s War Cabinet, it is easy to fall prey to ‘yesmanship’ and wishful thinking - 4th February 2010
 * need a dug-out canoe to navigate the net'' - The new Apple iPad isn’t the half of it. The torrent of internet information is forcing us to change the way we think - 28th January 2010
 * fault line runs straight to France'' - The earthquake’s destruction has been aggravated not by a pact with the Devil, but by the crippling legacy of imperialism - 21st January 2010
 * are where we store our memories'' - Auschwitz must be preserved; so must all important structures falling into decay, from Buckingham Palace downwards - 14th January 2010
 * Britain’s Indiana Jones of the Amazon'' - The newly discovered rainforest civilisation shows that deforestation is not just vandalism but a crime against history - 7th January 2010
 * of the moral resistance against Adolf Hitler'' - We forget in the retelling of history that Germans opposed to the Nazis were motivated by a powerful religious impulse - 5th January 2010
 * always comes before a fall'' - The Burj Dubai is just the latest example of mankind’s ‘edifice complex’ - 31st December 2009
 * TV debating will be a sudden-death contest'' - Britain’s political leaders are gambling with high stakes as they agree to American-style ‘presidential’ contests - 24th December 2009
 * I be complimentary, my dear Watson?'' - We celebrate flashy, insensitive Holmes, but it’s his sidekick’s common sense, bravery and friendship that we should admire - 17th December 2009
 * the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone'' - Great cultural artefacts and great intellectual ideas are no respecters of national boundaries. Everyone must share them - 10th December 2009
 * Hughes was a prophet of climate change'' - A generation of writers is just coming to terms with the biggest issue of our age. We should honour the man who foresaw it - 3rd December 2009
 * ghost of Robin Cook haunts Chilcot’s feast'' - In 2003 the irascible MP resigned over the Iraq war. His clarity of principle contrasts sharply with today’s grey fudge - 26th November 2009
 * in! Away with nostalgia!'' - Those complaining at the Lord's plans are in thrall to a stupidly rose-tinted view of the postwar years - 19th November 2009
 * stiff upper lip is no longer a badge of honour'' - For generations public grief has embarrassed Britain. But as a new generation experiences the pain of war, that is changing - 12th November 2009
 * internet is killing storytelling'' - Narratives are a staple of every culture the world over. They are disappearing in an online blizzard of tiny bytes of information - 5th November
 * Obama must face down the ghost of Vietnam'' - As the President ponders sending more troops to Afghanistan, he is haunted by the conflict that scarred the US psyche - 29th October 2009
 * a bonobo-help-bird world'' - We’re taught nature requires usto be selfish, but a new study argues empathy is natural for all animals - 22nd October 2009
 * Obama is out of step on gays in the military'' - It takes two kinds of bravery to come out in the Armed Forces. Those who show courage deserve more than political cowardice - 15th October 2009
 * tale brings shame on Britain'' - Labour and the Tories are ignorantly exploiting a tragic and complex period of Latvian history - 8th October 2009
 * Brown and the regrettable rise of the political spouse'' - Come back Denis Thatcher and Norma Major. This conference performance was just too sickly - 1st October 2009
 * scandal could become verse'' - In Britain, we hate being embarrassed. In France, disgrace is an excuse for a volume of doggerel - 24th September 2009
 * can be good for you. Ask Dan Brown'' - The move towards transparency in public life has been a huge advance. But individuals still need their privacy protected - 17th September 2009
 * pictures can mean more than words'' - The US Defence Department may disagree, but the images speak for themselves - 10th September 2009
 * brilliant artist self-destructing in the public eye'' - The day Michael Jackson’s music died seemed almost impossibly predictable, the chronicle of a death foretold, by him - 2nd July 2009 (See: Michael Jackson; summary)
 * green cow: it's not emission impossible'' - They may be frightening on the charge, but it's the beasts' malodorous eructations that should scare us most - 11th June 2009
 * the secret agent from Hendon'' - D-Day would not have been such a success without the work of an eccentric double agent - 6th June 2009
 * never needed history more than now'' - Its study may be declining in schools, but we are obsessed with the past and understanding it is crucial to the present - 28th May 2009
 * to Westminster'' - Britain's oldest - and oddest - private club, which has finally been forced to play by public rules - 21st May 2009
 * can't just let sleeping dogs lie'' - It is an injustice to those who are falsely accused, both living and dead, if past secrets remain hidden - 14th May 2009
 * passing of the unknown soldier'' - Thanks to science, there will be no more Tommy Atkins. The war dead will be buried with their names - 7th May 2009
 * some effort Man created swine flu'' - If you abuse nature by mass-producing meat in appalling conditions, you pay the price - 30th April 2009
 * idea that torture works is fiction'' - Subject suspects to extreme pain and they will say anything. How can we trust the ‘secrets' they reveal? - 23rd April 2009
 * battle against piracy begins in Mogadishu'' - The Somali marauders who are terrorising shipping have deep roots in the local ‘shifta' tradition of outlaw robber gangs - 16th April 2009
 * politicians and bum notes'' - The Kim Il Sung-along is just the latest attempt by a world leader to harness the power of a good tune - 9th April 2009
 * them wear hairshirts, not cloths of gold'' - Summits have been about conspicuous consumption since Henry VIII's day. In these grim times there must be a better way - 2nd April 2009
 * viewed from the window ledge'' - Suicide rate is likely to spike as economic distress combines with the collapse of belief systems - 26th March 2009
 * should sing louder for our heroes'' - We have become reluctant to elevate people to heroic status for acts of violence in distant lands - 19th March 2009
 * way we read as our world totters'' - Sales of romantic fiction, Dickens and Ayn Rand's paean to capitalism are soaring - 12th March 2009
 * Pakistan badlands must be tamed'' - Two British imperial legacies collided on the streets of Lahore when gunmen opened fire - 5th March 2009
 * turf in our green and peasant land'' - As the world slides into economic chaos, more people want a safe little patch of earth to cultivate - 26th February 2009
 * I hear the ghost of a buccaneer'' - The goatskin-clad figure who inspired Robinson Crusoe resonates across three centuries - 12th February 2009
 * boots the shoe throwers?'' - The significance of shoe hurling lies less in the intentions of the thrower than the reaction to it - 5th February 2009
 * matters who painted The Colossus'' - If we doubt who created a masterpiece then it no longer speaks to us in the same way - 29th January 2009
 * back Tom Paine'' - The words of a drunken Norfolk pamphleteer lay at the heart of the new President's message - 22nd January 2009
 * a machinegun to history'' - Three recent Hollywood films set in the Second World War are fun, but miles from reflecting reality - 15th January 2009
 * will bloom again'' - Whether it is flowerbulbs or derivatives there is nothing new about irrational speculation - 8th January 2009
 * MI5 lifts its cloak and shows its dagger'' - The secret services were once exactly that. But the need for a different kind of recruit has heralded a new openness - 7th January 2009
 * Scotland's poet can help'' - Burns's rude jokes and faith in old friends to overcome bad times provide a tonic - 1st January 2009
 * for euphoria pulls the modern crowd'' - For the multitudes who will gather to celebrate the Obama inauguration, just being there is the most important thing - 18th December 2008
 * for cholera: a heavy dose of political will'' - If a state breaks down, as Zimbabwe has, the disease is likely to spread. But, as in Victorian times, the solution is obvious - 11th December 2008
 * and joyless: Obama's take on Britain?'' - The President-elect's writings seem to be coloured by his grandfather's brutal treatment at the hands of the colonists - 4th December 2008
 * neighbours keep out'' - Without a culture of neighbourliness, it's easy for the rapist father and others to get away with their crimes - 27th November 2008
 * panic, it's just Mariah Careyensis'' - The minister's soup memo, Madonna's loo seats. It's what happens when you're at the top too long - 20th November 2008
 * harsh lesson of Afghanistan: little has changed in 200 years'' - As President Karzai visits Britain, an account written by the first European to visit his country still has much to teach us - 13th November 2008
 * unlikely lad who grew up to be president'' - The journey of Barack Obama journey is as compelling as it is exotic, and it lies at the heart of his success - 7th November 2008
 * always remember where they were when...'' - The election of Barack Obama, and his movingly understated acceptance speech, was one of those moments - 6th November 2008
 * McCain - he fought and lost with honour'' - He deserved to fail. But the Republican candidate was a worthy opponent - 6th November 2008
 * Pius: moral coward or saint?'' - More evidence is needed to judge how the wartime pontiff responded to his agonising predicament - 23rd October 2008
 * white lie that threatens Obama'' - The unspoken legacy of racism could still scupper Barack Obama's bid for the presidency - 16th October 2008
 * much does confidence cost?'' - The big money is chasing a commodity that cannot be bought or sold on the open market - 9th October 2008
 * words spell trouble for US voters'' - One senator is ‘cool', one is ‘maverick'. But neither Obama or McCain can feel happy about their epithet - 3rd October 2008
 * America still thinks big'' - It doesn't really exist, but the idealised rural community holds the key to the White House - 25th September 2008
 * the American dream'' - The US should put the same creativity that produced the car into tackling the energy crisis it has caused - 18th September 2008
 * the laureate more cash - and more wine'' - And don't force the poet royal to write about royalty. It might be the only way to get any great poetry from the post - 11th September 2008
 * British are the masters of deceit'' - From bamboozling the Nazis in the war to fooling the Taleban this week, nobody lies better than those famous stiff upper lips - 3rd September 2008
 * Macintyre on the gory reality behind nursery rhymes'' - 29th August 2008
 * grimly familiar tale in US history'' - The alleged plot to kill Barack Obama fits a dramatic pattern that began at a theatre 140 years ago - 27th August 2008
 * tribute to our enigmatic nature'' - Bletchley Park worked because of two great British traits - our secrecy and eccentricity - 22nd August 2008
 * of our guilty conscience'' - As real-life creatures face extinction, mankind is fascinated by the possibility of imaginary ones - 14th August 2008
 * films: the great escape from the truth'' - The reality of Stalag Luft III was far grimmer than the romanticised derring-do that became typical of postwar movies - 8th August 2008
 * A cultural religion'' - The Victorians, like us, were fascinated by logical deduction and a suspicion of the neighbours - 18th July 2008
 * absent fathers of Obama and McCain'' - How absent parents were crucial in shaping the characters of both Obama and his Republican presidential rival - 17th July 2008
 * here . . . and you’re not'' - Ever since the invention of the British postcard in 1894, holidaymakers have been struggling to find the perfect message - 17th July 2008
 * all have tickets to the universal museum'' - 10th July 2008
 * Mia, how can we resist the words of Abba?'' - 4th July 2008
 * Hitler: From national bogeyman to ruinous failure'' - The waxwork Hitler in Berlin is the latest proof of Germany’s determination to come to terms with a gruesome history - 4th July 2008

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