The best of the long read in 2025

The mysterious novelist who foresaw Putin’s Russia - and then came to symbolise its moral decay - Sophie Pinkham Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? Composite: Guardian Design/Pamela Gordon/ Simon Dack / Alamy Stock Photo/Didier Descouens/REX/Shutterstock/PA/Mr Beast/Claudine O'Sullivan Illustration: Guardian Design The reluctant collaborator: surviving Syria’s brutal civil war - and its aftermath - Ghaith Abdul-Ahad At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad’s fighters could get him killed The curse of Toumaï: an ancient skull, a disputed femur and a bitter feud over humanity’s origins - Scott Sayare When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not everyone was convinced - and the bitter argument that followed has consumed the lives of scholars ever since The rise and fall of the British cult that hid in plain sight - Barbara Speed Philippa Barnes was a child when her family joined the Jesus Fellowship. As an adult, she helped expose the shocking scale of abuse it had perpetrated Starmer v Starmer: why is the former human rights lawyer so cautious about defending human rights? - Daniel Trilling Many of his supporters hoped the prime minister would restore the UK’s commitment to international law. Yet Labour’s record over the past year has been curiously mixed The real Scandi noir: how a film-maker and a crooked lawyer shattered Denmark’s self-image - Samanth Subramanian The Black Swan follows a repentant master criminal as she sets up corrupt clients in front of hidden cameras. But is she really reformed - and is the director up to his own tricks? The human stain remover: what Britain’s greatest extreme cleaner learned from 25 years on the job - Tom Lamont From murder scenes to whale blubber, Ben Giles has seen it - and cleaned it - all. In their stickiest hours, people rely on him to restore order ‘The ghosts are everywhere’: can the British Museum survive its omni-crisis? - Charlotte Higgins Beset by colonial controversy, difficult finances and the discovery of a thief on the inside, Britain’s No 1 museum is in deep trouble. Can it restore its reputation? Don’t call it morning sickness: ‘At times in my pregnancy I wondered if this was death coming for me’ - Abi Stephenson The Victorians called it ‘pernicious vomiting of pregnancy’, but modern medicine has offered no end to the torture of hyperemesis gravidarum - until now Kahane’s ghost: how a long-dead extremist rabbi continues to haunt Israel’s politics - Joshua Leifer A violent fanatic and pioneer in bigotry, Meir Kahane died a political outcast 35 years ago. Today, his ideas influence the very highest levels of government An English gentleman, a crooked lawyer: the...

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