Latest Stories
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Happy birthday to Wordsworth the eco-hero
Was Wordsworth the first ‘green’? England’s great poet of nature was born 250 years ago today, and a new biography argues that the environmental movement owes its whole existence to him.
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Queen invokes Blitz spirit in message of hope
Can war metaphors be a mixed blessing? The Queen, last night, movingly evoked memories of World War Two. But many politicians worldwide have been less subtle in their choice of words.
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In the footsteps of Lincoln, Gandhi, Gorbachev
Is this one of those turning points in history? This was the week a British prime minister declared a state of emergency and called on a nation to come together to fight a deadly enemy.
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BBC predicts explosion of creativity and art
Could the virus spark an artistic renaissance? As lockdowns come into force and people around the world face lonely weeks ahead, the stage is set for a huge flowering of modern genius.
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We may not like who we are about to become
What do the classics teach us? As we enter the dark tunnel of the 2020 pandemic, we will face hard questions. Take comfort that some of our greatest writers have struggled with them before.
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After 24 years…Spitting Image set to return
Is satire simply cruel? There is a long tradition of ridiculing the famous and powerful. But in an age of increased sensitivity, the return of TV’s Spitting Image might not be that welcome.
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Eureka! Great novels really ARE good for us
Is literature better for you than self-help? New research suggests that traveling into the mind of another person is more helpful than studiously trying to understand our own thinking.
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Readers lose their heads for Tudor trilogy
Are stories truer than facts? The most anticipated novel of the year charts the rise and fall of the ruthless Thomas Cromwell, and takes readers to places where historians do not dare to go.
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Outrage over top author’s support for genocide
Can you separate a writer’s work from their political views? A furious attack just published in the Washington Post lambasts a Nobel Prize-winning author for defending war crimes in Bosnia.
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Flying reindeer and hallucinations in Lapland
Do we need to know where our myths come from? As Christmas Day approaches, we examine the mysterious origins of that much-beloved, white-bearded, reindeer-flying, gift-giver: Santa Claus.
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Hidden meaning of The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Is it literature or just a great story? The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr will become a TV film, with an all-star cast, this Christmas. Critics say it is a powerfully symbolic tale.
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Margaret Atwood joint winner of Booker Prize
Is Margaret Atwood a prophet? She seems to have foretold #MeToo, seen the climate crisis coming and predicted the rise of Trump. Yet she insists she sees only the present, not the future.
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Angry and alone, ‘Mad King’ Trump reigns
Is Donald Trump having a meltdown? After the US president unleashed his fury on Twitter, one Washington Post columnist argues that Trump’s demented rage echoes Shakespeare’s mad King Lear.
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Apocalypse could return us to Middle Ages
Is it wrong to scare people with visions of doom? Britain’s best thriller-writer, Robert Harris, warns that our hyper-advanced civilisation could be set back 500 years by a sudden catastrophe.
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Anne Frank: Portrait of an icon as a young woman
Should we all keep a diary? An important part of Anne Frank’s writing is that she captures so much of what it is to be a teenager, even with secret pages musing on puberty and prostitutes.