Latest Stories
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‘No one has ever read anything like this before’
Are book prizes bad for writing? Milkman, a challenging work about sexual harassment in Northern Ireland, has won the Man Booker Prize. Some writers say the award is...
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‘Let me live, love, and say it well...’
Is poetry more vital than ever? A survey has declared Sylvia Plath the most popular poet of all time among teenagers — ahead of William Shakespeare. Meanwhile, poetry readership is surging.
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I, Hunter: how a name can change your life
How much do they matter? The most popular baby names of 2017 have been revealed. Studies show that what you are named can influence everything from your exam results to your face.
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Booker Prize holds a mirror to our dark times
Can fiction change the world? Racism, injustice, ecological destruction — the Man Booker Prize shortlist has been unveiled, and the new novels paint a bleak picture of modern society.
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New Shakespeare play celebrates warrior queen
Is it brilliant or blasphemy? The ambitious production combines material from the Bard’s plays with fresh lines from playwright Jeanie O’Hare to tell the bloody history of Margaret of Anjou.
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Tuneless, dull and dated: anthems under fire
Should we scrap national anthems? A nine-year-old girl has sparked anger by calling out racist lyrics in Advance Australia Fair. It is far from the only national song...
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Bodyguard: thrills viewers and divides critics
Does Bodyguard teach us anything about the world? The hit BBC show has become Britain’s most watched TV drama in over a decade — several different...
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Avo, bougie and rando: the new words for 2018
Is the English language getting out of hand? Merriam-Webster has added more than 800 new words to its dictionary, including “TL;DR”. Our language has been constantly changing for centuries.
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The surprising philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh
Should we all live like Pooh? As Christopher Robin hits cinemas, the friendly bear has been hailed “a philosopher to rival Plato and Confucius”....
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Indonesia rocked by earthquake catastrophe
Are media reports of natural disasters unfair? At least 98 people have died in a deadly quake in Indonesia. Hundreds of tourists evacuated. Meanwhile, famous faces were caught in the chaos.
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The wild, difficult genius of Emily Bronte
Should we admire Wuthering Heights? The first reviewers of Emily Brontë’s dark tale of obsessive love called it “baffling” and “disjointed”. To its fans, the novel is a...
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Baron Cohen returns to ambush US establishment
Is Sacha Baron Cohen insightful or cheap entertainment? His new show, Who is America?, debuted last night. It has drawn criticism for duping politicians and exposing...
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‘Love Island teaches you more than Jane Austen’
Surely not? The TV show is smashing records. Some scorn it as low-grade trash. But others say its stories of relationships, courtship and rejection have more wisdom than the classics.
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Giant of American fiction Philip Roth dies
Do great writers offer great wisdom? Legendary American novelist Philip Roth has died aged 85. Love, death, sex, faith: his era-defining prose left no side of human life unexamined.
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Laurel, Yanny and 2,000 years of philosophy
Is there such a thing as reality? The internet erupted in an ear-splitting debate this week — all thanks to a mysterious recording. Science has since cracked the case, but deeper riddles remain.