The Bible is unquestionably the most scrutinized “book” in history. Yet certain obvious facts about it nonetheless escape notice. For example, as Diarmaid MacCulloch points out in the Review’s December 18, 2025, the Bible is not in fact a book, but “books,” as its original Greek name (biblia) attests: sixty-six of them, or seventy-three, or seventy-six, depending… Read More A Christmas Story
Attack brings total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since October ceasefire took effect William Christou The Israeli military killed six Palestinians, including a baby, who were in a school that sheltered displaced people in Gaza City on Friday, hospital officials have said. The attack brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since… Read More Israeli troops kill six Palestinians sheltering in Gaza school, say hospital chiefs
BJP governments are incapable of a Beijing-style clean-up. The government would have to apply restrictions on construction and vehicles that would alienate the builder and transport lobbies Mukul Kesavan Delhi’s air is unhealthy the year round, but in December and January it’s poisonous. When the chief minister, Rekha Gupta, arrived at a smog-filled Arun Jaitley… Read More Capital punishment
++++++Readers outside of India can donate hereto support Mainstream Weeklyhttps://tinyurl.com/2rsy4ss6++++++ In this issue: DOCUMENTS IMAGE & SOUND Editor’s Picks: * (Coverpage artwork: Stuff, Photo by Harsh Kapoor Dec 25, 2025) https://mainstreamweekly.net/article16441.html
Anusha Rizvi’s The Great Shamsuddin Family is billed as a comedy. So why does it leave you unsettled? Apoorvanand Dolly Ahluwalia (Asiya) and Farida Jalal (Akko) in a still from the movie. Set within one house, and one day, the film maps how personal choices—marriage, migration, belief—are influenced by a wider climate of suspicion. If you wish… Read More Laughing carefully
NB: A blurb for a book of philosophical essays asks if ours is the era of ‘faint-hearted’ philosophy, because we were/are not ‘able to bear the greatness, the immensity of the claims made by the human spirit.’ The ongoing ideological assault on the mind and the very soul of humanity point to the widespread failures… Read More Natalia Ginzburg: Our Monstrous Ideas
NB: The idea of collective guilt or collective punishment is sheer poison. Everyone, especially the ruling establishments of various countries I need not name, should be aware of the inhumanity of this idea. You cannot defeat darkness with more darkness; violence with more violwence. For all its technological progress, global society seems not to have… Read More ‘We are all human beings first’: Jews and Muslims embrace at vigils for those killed in Bondi beach terror attack
NB: Those who bang on about Macaulay’s Minute on education (1835) should acquaint themselves with this early Indian patriot, whose work in education inspired a generation and who preceded Macaulay by many years. DS The men of Young Bengal emerge not as pale imitations of British liberals, but as creative political thinkers who addressed India’s… Read More ‘India’s First Radicals’ argues for a generous assessment of 19th-century Indian intellectual life
Shobhit Mahajan The Tribune, 16 December, 2025 Chat GPT and Google Gemini are rapidly becoming the go-to places for students. That by itself is not surprising-after all generations of students have found ways to avoid rigor and skirt around academic engagement. Champion Guides (which condensed the whole course into a pocket-sized paperback) were followed by… Read More As AI replaces thinking, learning is eroding
A plutonium-packed generator disappeared on one of the world’s highest mountains in a hush-hush mission the U.S. still won’t talk about. By Jeffrey Gettleman, Hari Kumar, Agnes Chang and Pablo Robles Photographs and videos by Atul Loke. – Dec. 13, 2025 The mission demanded the utmost secrecy. A team of American climbers, handpicked by the C.I.A. for their mountaineering skills —… Read More How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device?
After the truth-shower 