Culture
Her long prime
Maggie Smith brought a steely but humane imperiousness to roles
The British actress died on September 27th, aged 89
The sports page
From Diego Simeone to Arsenal: in praise of sport’s dark arts
Pushing a game’s rules to the limits is part of competition
The stickiness factor
The Malcolm Gladwell rule: how to succeed while annoying critics
A new book offers a chance to assess why he has global appeal
Rocket management
The SpaceX guide to exceptional engineering
And how to succeed in spite of a difficult boss
Bad boys
An Indian hijack drama, “IC 814”, dares to portray terrorists as human
By ditching the usual stereotypes it has become a surprise hit on Netflix
The centre did not hold
Understanding the Republican Party’s rightward march
Remember the two R’s of Republican history: Rockefeller and Reagan
The edifice complex
What “supertall” skyscrapers reveal about the countries that build them
They are miracles of engineering and “boasts in glass and steel”
The sports page
The sport in which nine-year-old prodigies are world-beaters
Stars of many sports are getting older. Not so chess
Back Story
Sally Rooney shows how to escape the trap of success
In “Intermezzo” the Irish author is artfully growing up
World in a dish
How the martini became the world’s most iconic cocktail
It has a glamorous history and can be endlessly personalised
Unbridled
One of history’s biggest drivers is not what you might think
The horse has moulded empires, wars and human affairs profoundly
