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Nick Holdsworth

Holdsworth is a writer, journalist and filmmaker.

The Helsinki effect

DIPLOMA: What NATO is failing to do today? With a mildly satirical exterior and a deadly serious core, Arthur Franck's account of the groundbreaking Helsinki Accords of 1975 demonstrates the great historical significance of a diplomatic process that was considered both boring and irrelevant at the time.

Lies, luxury and endless war

CORRUPTION: Alexis Bloom's gripping exposé of the web of lies that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently woven to avoid corruption charges shows how one man's fear of prison has led to war and instability in the Middle East. It's about a man whose ego has grown to the point where he sees himself as a kind of King David figure leading the Jewish people to salvation.

Working for peace

GAZA: The conflict in Gaza is horrific for all innocent people. But what enables an Israeli family to muster the political will and pressure to have their daughter released within two months, while thousands of Palestinians who were arrested and imprisoned without charge or trial during the war remain voiceless?

When propaganda took over the schools

RUSSIA: How a small-town teaching assistant became a whistleblower about the grim reality of war propaganda.

Microplastics are everywhere

HEALTH: The age of Homo plasticus is here. Plastic is going to kill us, unless we do something about it. Microplastics are full of dangerous chemicals – and compounds that can change our DNA and cause cancer, inflammation, tumors and dementia. Death. Few plastic materials are actually recyclable; less than ten percent is recycled today.

Reason in a world of lies

Peace Prize: The Nobel Peace Prize is important enough that even the Kremlin felt compelled to praise the Nobel Peace Prize to Dmitri Muratov.

Russia without Putin

RUSSIA: One day Putin will leave the Kremlin – but that will not change anything, writes Tony Wood in his book on power and continuity in today's Russia, in which he attacks several well-known myths.

The visionary who wanted to give the world free electricity

FORGOT GENI? The film Teslafy Me wipes dust off the story of inventor Nikola Tesla, whom we can thank every time we are connected to the world.

Everyday life in Kabul

AFGHANISTAN: In the capital, Kabul, which only gets international attention when suicide bombers attack, director Aboozar Amini is a fly on the wall in the lives of ordinary people.