Any reader of George Eliot is familiar with Britain's class system, by which Britons sort themselves, either ironically or seriously, into rigidly-defined castes, based on things like education, type of employment, and wealth. In order to sort out the confusion inherent to such a system, the BBC wrote an interactive calculator to determine which class you belong to.
Yes, Queen Elizabeth II was hospitalized Sunday. Yes, she was experiencing symptoms of gastroenteritis, a stomach virus. But everyone can calm down, because it was only a precaution. She walked unassisted from the hospital to her car on Monday, and she's fine.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rarely speaks to his own people, or even emerges from his Presidential palace, so him giving an interview should be newsworthy in and of itself. But then, on top of giving an interview, he and said some terrible things about Britain.
The British House of Commons have shown overwhelmingly for same-sex marriage legislation that could soon bring soon make gay marriage a reality, but the victory isn't the end of the fight.
Debra Saunders on the White House press corps, Maureen Dowd on President Standoffish, Simon Jenkins on EU membership, Karin Klein on the right to die, and Mark Mills on California's fracking goldmine.
This may come as a surprise to twits on this side of the pond who think of British people as a foul-mouthed, rabble-rousing, constantly cursing lot, but until now it was illegal to use 'insulting' language in Britain.
Alex Koppelman on the Sandy relief bill, Charles Blow on future cliffs, Matt Lewis on conservatives losing the culture war, Sheri Berman on waning Arab Spring optimism, and Gideon Rachman on Britain's relationship with the EU.
Jeffrey Rosen on Robert Bork's legacy, Ezra Klein on what would make a good fiscal cliff deal, Adam Gopnik on gun control, Andres Oppenheimer on Latin America and the Senate, and Timothy Garton Ash on Britain and the EU.
A recently discovered code from World War II found on a pigeon that was dead in some guy's chimney has Britain's top code-breakers completely stumped.
In positive step in the shooting case of teenage Pakistani blogger Malala Yousufzai, six people accused of facilitating the attack were arrested on Wednesday, though the main suspect remains at large.
Pippa Middleton is kind of the best, right? But not everyone likes Pippa! Not everyone is approving of her new status as writer, a party-planning and advice writer, to be precise.
Britain's prime minister David Cameron has recently used the word butch in a sarcastic fashion to describe a Labour party leader as not good at his job, i.e., not masculine enough. What can we learn from this?
In the fourth day of protests that have rocked Western embassies across the Muslim world, protesters in Sudan torched the German embassy and attacked the British while protesters scaled the walls and attacked the U.S. embassy in Tunis.
Prince Harry's naked Las Vegas jaunt in August takes on a bit of a different tone with the news on Friday that he's landed in Afghanistan to begin a deployment with the British army in Helmand province.
Oh yes. ITV released the full trailer for series 3 of Downton Abbey late Wednesday night, and now we're left with only one question. Is it September 16* yet?
Julian Assange has made no secret that the Ecuadorian Embassy is a boring, cramped, poorly-lit place to reside (with underwhelming dining options), but he'll have to get used to it: After a heated diplomatic row last week, Britain and Ecuador are back to square one with regards to his extradition status.
The quandary of Julian Assange's situation, with diplomatic asylum granted by Ecuador but no way to leave its London embassy without arrest, is just too tantalizing for news organizations not to weigh in on, even if it means suggesting some goofy theories.
Part of the reason Gu Kailai wasn't sent directly to death row after being found guilty Monday in the death of Briton Neil Heywood was that he reportedly threatened her son, something his family in Britain has never denied publicly.
Julian Assange made his first public appearance since seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London almost two months ago. Assange called for the U.S. to end the "witch hunt" against Wikleaks from an embassy balcony.
Stuck in the Ecuadorean embassy with an asylum offer but no way to leave, Julian Assange is in sort of a "no-man's land," one commentator told The Associated Press, as details of his de-facto incarceration have started emerging.
The most interesting thing about the story about Julian Assange's possible offer of political asylum in Ecuador is now the adventure he may have in trying to leave London, which could involve him shimmying out a window or getting smuggled in a bag.
An Afghan man who had relatives killed in a U.S. missile strike is challenging parts of the British government demanding to know how they contributed to the construction of President Obama's infamous 'kill list'.
Just as United Nations Special Envoy Kofi Annan calls it quits, world powers are beginning to assert themselves more forcefully in Syria.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
We learned today that the Aurora mass shooting is as big a story around the world as it is in the U.S., but the reaction is not. A headline in Norway's largest newspaper captured the disbelief in other industrialized countries in the wake of the tragedy: "Stricter Firearms Is a Non-Issue Even After Massacre."
In cleaning up London's graffiti for the Olympics city authorities threaten to squelch the work one of its biggest celebrities, the street artist Banksy, but on Monday the secretive graffiti artist showed he wouldn't be deterred from creating Olympics-related art.
The town of Angers in France is petitioning Queen Elizabeth II to turn over the Crown Jewels of England because they say that crowns were basically stolen from them about 500 years ago.
Barclays is one of the biggest banks in the world, so the ongoing interest-rate scandal that forced out its chief executive Monday is worth understanding, especially as it threatens to affect other major banks.
Today in books and publishing: Questions about the so-called "Great American Novel;" Britain's "Famous Five" infatuation; what books to expect for the rest of the year; advice on self-publishing; Remnick on Ephron; Jake Adelstein gets a deal.
It's a nerve-rattling Friday for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as his last chance for freedom hangs precariously in the balance.
This morning, Julian Assange is surrounded by London police who want to arrest him and fawning fans who wants to defend him, but there's no easy way out for the WikiLeaks founder.
Officials in Britain have seen what's going on with the rest of the Eurozone, and have cut a deal worth an estimated £80 billion to make sure they don't become the next Spain.
Sometimes when you're an officer of the law you have to go above and beyond the call of duty, and if that means having sex with someone you're investigating, well, that's OK for U.K. cops.
If you haven't yet read Mike Giglio's story in NewsBeast about the investigation into Piers Morgan's stock scandal in 2000, you should, if only to read the first few paragraphs about how terrified the then newspaper editor was about bad press and an investigation.
If China's aim was to show off its organization and power during its 2008 Olympic opening ceremony, the vibe British filmmaker Danny Boyle is going for this summer is almost the opposite: Pastoral serenity.
Andy Samberg is the latest young, urban hip-type person to fall prey to a virulent new strain of anglophilia currently sweeping the nation. Have you noticed it?
The story of job-seekers working as low- or unpaid stewards for the queen's diamond jubilee being made to sleep under the London Bridge reads like something straight out of Charles Dickens.
In today's tour of state-sponsored propaganda: Dan Rather has a disturbing obsession with death, the BBC honors Queen Elizabeth and "bullets of treachery" explain the massacre in Syria.
After months of accusations that Sweden's legal system is backwards and dysfunctional, the Swedish press is eager to give WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a taste of justice.
As stunts go, planning to jump out of a helicopter, fall 2,400 feet, and land safely without a parachute seems like just about the craziest.
The British have always chuckled at America's flamboyant patriotism and jingoistic self-love, but this summer the tiny island nation has two occasions that will test its modesty mettle: the London Summer Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
For anybody following the inquest into the death of Gareth Williams, the British spy found inside a duffle bag in his own bathtub, Wednesday's verdict that the death was probably a crime but would never be fully explained will be infinitely frustrating.
It looks like we've got a new darling of green technology coming into focus for the United States and Britain: Floating wind turbines. And suddenly the business of developing those things is looking pretty lucrative.
After U.K. insurer Aviva sent an email to 1,300 workers telling them they were fired, they all must have been so relieved to learn that it was a mistake -- except the one person who actually did lose a job.
Reason No. 453 to never ever ever! send a sext? There's a significant chance that you'll end up sending your sexplicit message to the wrong person.
Britain is finally getting ready to start prosecuting some people for the whole News International phone-hacking fiasco, and they include four journalists and a cop, along with six others whose files Scotland Yard sent to prosecutors on Wednesday.
Today in books: There are more than fifty shades of grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey headlines; we're still awaiting the news of the inevitable Fox Mole book deal; and the most awful short sentence is not that terrible. Really.
With another admission of illegal hacking by the British press this morning, it's getting hard to differentiate the scandalized newspapers from the non-scandalized newspapers.
Moralizing is a good way to sell papers, and the British Daily Mail has worked its outrage into an engine that propels more copies into the hands of Britons and onto the screens of everyone than almost any other news outlet on earth.
The Cambridge Union Society has been silent in the face of protests over its decision to host Dominique Strauss-Kahn as a speaker, but on Thursday it finally gave an explanation: The U.K. club claims it invited Strauss-Kahn to speak way back in early 2010, and finally landed him.
Without a replacement set up, the industry-funded body that had been in charge of regulating Britain's press ethics for the last 21 years got permission to close down immediately rather than operate as a lame duck.
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