Latest Stories
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‘End this uncivil war’: Biden calls for unity
Do political speeches still make a real difference? At his inauguration, Joe Biden promised to end the division in America, but some, including his predecessor, were not listening.
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Animal Farm at 75 ‘still as relevant as ever’
Is Animal Farm still relevant today? As Orwell’s classic celebrates its 75th birthday, some commentators warn its anti-totalitarian message remains grimly pertinent to the modern world.
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Booker Prize list: ‘moment of cultural change’
Are stories what make us uniquely human? The amazingly varied shortlist for this year’s Booker Prize for Fiction highlights the way a passion for narrative unites people worldwide.
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Haiku poetry collection documents corona blues
Can a single haiku be great art? It is a simple poem in just 17 syllables – and has proved a surprisingly effective way of expressing intense feelings. But can something so slight be art?
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Trump – the playground bully of politics
Do insults work? An article by legendary US journalist Carl Bernstein has revealed that Donald Trump is as rude in his talks with America’s allies as he is in tweets about his enemies.
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After Covid (AC): ‘normal’ like never before
Is it worth trying to imagine life a year from now? One writer, this weekend, did just that. Some believe he created a disturbingly accurate portrait. Others think it is impossible to predict.
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A millennial love story for ‘Normal People’
Do ‘normal people’ exist? The 2018 literary sensation by Irish author Sally Rooney has been turned into a 12-part TV drama. What’s all the fuss about and what does it mean to be normal anyway?
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The great escape: reading booms in lockdown
Is reading fiction escapist? With half of the world’s population under lockdown, sales of novels have rocketed. People are turning to stories to keep themselves company and pass the time.
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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.