Sam Knight
Sam Knight is a staff writer at The New Yorker based in London. He has profiled the British politicians Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, and Sadiq Khan for the magazine, and has written about Brexit, art fraud, soccer corruption, and the power of premonitions. His story “Follow the White Ball,” a profile of the snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan, was anthologized in the 2016 edition of “The Best American Sports Writing.” Previously, Knight was a contributing writer for the Guardian’s The Long Read, and his work has appeared in the Financial Times, Grantland, and Harper’s. He is the author of the book “The Premonitions Bureau: A True Account of Death Foretold.”
How WhatsApp Took Over the Global Conversation
The platform has become a core technology around the world, relied on by governments and extended families alike. What are we all doing there?
A Development Economist Returns to What He Left Behind
Paul Collier spent decades studying the poorest countries on earth. Now he advises struggling towns in the place where he grew up.
The Mess at the BBC Will Never End
The public broadcaster desperately needs the public to believe in it. Between its own stumbles and ceaseless right-wing hostility, it is in danger of losing its way.
Britain Is Manifesting Nigel Farage as Its Next Prime Minister
Donald Trump’s state visit only added to the seeming inevitability of the right-wing Reform Party.
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s
Patrick Drahi made a fortune through debt-fuelled telecommunications companies. Now he’s bringing his methods to the art market.
The Annual Agony of Yearning for a Homegrown Wimbledon Champion
Each year, Britain sends forth its best young men and women, no matter how good at tennis they actually are.
A Forgotten Surrealist’s Paintings Return to New York
Last year, Henry Orlik was living in poverty after being evicted. Now his work is worth millions.
A Mother’s Hunger Strike Challenges Two Nations
Laila Soueif’s effort to free her son, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British citizen, from an Egyptian prison is a study in personal protest.
The Miraculous Fate of a Photographer of Miracles
Kate Friend set out to make a series about the places where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. Her pilgrimage took a curious turn.
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London Is a Local-News Desert. What Comes Next?
After the Evening Standard, the city’s last daily paper, went weekly, a hodgepodge of small news sources sprang up.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Braces for the Second Trump Age
David Lammy used to be an arch-critic of Donald Trump. Can he deal with the new Administration and reset the U.K.’s relationship with the E.U. at the same time?
Elon Musk’s Latest Terrifying Foray Into British Politics
The world’s richest man has become fixated on child sexual exploitation in deindustrialized English towns—much of which took place more than a decade ago.
Why Is It So Hard to Build a Holocaust Memorial in London?
Plans for a striking national monument next to the Palace of Westminster have been mired in disagreement for years.
The Shipwreck Detective
Nigel Pickford has spent a lifetime searching for sunken treasure—without leaving dry land.
Keir Starmer’s Bafflingly Bad Start as the U.K.’s Prime Minister
The Labour government’s first hundred days in power have been characterized by mistakes, infighting, and drift.
Armand Duplantis, the Timothée Chalamet of the Pole Vault
The American Swedish heartthrob showed his mastery of the strangest of sports, setting another new record.
Britain Awaits a Wipeout Election
After fourteen years of Conservative rule, how will Labour pick up the pieces?
Britain’s Embrace of the Bomb
The country’s nuclear-weapons program is in bad shape, yet it is one of only two nations actively rearming. What’s it all for?
The English Apple Is Disappearing
As the country loses its local cultivars, an orchard owner and a group of biologists are working to record and map every variety of apple tree they can find in the West of England.
What Have Fourteen Years of Conservative Rule Done to Britain?
Living standards have fallen. The country is exhausted by constant drama. But the U.K. can’t move on from the Tories without facing up to the damage that has occurred.