Ian Jack (1945-2022): Memory Man

A Heartland Original

He was a perfect practitioner of realpolitik and yet his earthiness endeared him to friends and foes alike

A formidable strategist of caste mobilization

Projecting himself as the leader of numerous Other Backward Castes, he forged together a powerful Muslim-Yadav alliance

Hilary Mantel (1952-2022): Past Perfectionist

Hilary Mantel (1952-2022) humanised characters from history, as she was interested in where politics met psychology, where the private met the public

Booker Prize winning author Hilary Mantel dies at 70

Often described as one of the finest writers of the 21st century, she is the first woman and only the fourth person to win two Booker prizes

The Royal Thread

The sartorial expressions of the Queen’s soft power

Raju Srivastava (1963-2022): The Everyman Comic

He had a large following across the working and rural classes

Jean-Luc Godard (1930-2022): The Genius Who Outlived His Brilliant Milieu

The Power of Absence

In the Elizabethan code of leadership, unspoken words and unshown emotions could move a people

Cyrus Mistry (1968-2022): His Own Man

The former Tata chairman had both a vision for the group and a handicap