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Daryl Mersom traces the distinct influence of the Georgian-Russian modernist architect in London

Though I pass Berthold Lubetkin’s former home in Clifton, Bristol, each morning, his blue plaque on a boxy little white house took me a while to notice, distracted as I often am by estate agent windows, the rag-and-bone man’s trailer, and of course, Brunel’s suspension bridge. Lubetkin, an admirer of Brunel, made it from his birthplace Tbilisi to Bristol in an indirect manner, stopping for some time in Europe, and then working as an architect in London. The gorgeous public architecture he built in the capital will be the focus of this piece of writing…

Perestroika was a restructuring programme initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid 1980s continued until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. When choosing animations we decided to extend our dates slightly to include one film, Sweath (Alexandr Fedulov, 1992) made during this period and released afterwards. We felt that the animations reflected an anxiety that was heightened at this period as the Soviet Union embarked on a period of change, often described as increased 'openness'. UK media generally presented this period as open in which the harsh policies in the Soviet Union were softened…

Rachel South explores local projects focusing on the functionality, aesthetics, and ecological questions of developing embankments and coastal areas.

For a city characterised as the ‘Venice of the North’, where water represents both its physical and spiritual veins, St Petersburg’s inhabitants are denied access to it. Many believe that the water has been appropriated for the eyes of tourists only, millions of whom flock to the ethereally beautiful embankments each year. The 94 rivers crisscrossing the city are concealed behind busy roads or garages and recreation is restricted to a walk along embankments entombed in granite…

In an extract from his recently-released memoir, Desmond Cecil retells the remarkable stories behind his life as a violinist and diplomat

This is not a ‘conventional’ diplomatic memoir about political ‘revelations’, but a passionate account of the vie extraordinaire of a young professional violinist in Switzerland, a senior British diplomat around the world, a nuclear environmental expert in post-Soviet Russia, and pro bono work with arts charities around Europe. The Russian language and culture feature strongly.

Anna Moss looks at a remarkable autobiography, by one of the most distinctive and complicated authors of the 20th century

“I confess I do not believe in time. I like to fold my magic carpet, after use, in such a way as to superimpose one part of the pattern upon another. Let visitors trip.”