Lemn Sissay Q&A: “As I grow older, I must step up“
The award-winning poet, playwright, actor and broadcaster answers our questions.
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The decline of the American empire
The big international stars are abandoning UK football
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Graham set out to turn his life around – but all he got was a twisted ankle
The ankle is far and away the commonest sprain site we see.
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Aged 6, finding Joe Orton’s diaries gave me a strange education in love, sex and death
We cared nothing about his work or the famous people he met.
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Never in my life have I been so happy to be described as miserably incorrect
I accept that things are getting out of control.
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Yes, you eat a raw oyster alive – and other unforgettable food facts
The colour orange was named after the fruit, not the other way around.
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A concrete epiphany from the Multi-Story Orchestra
This concert in a Peckham car park offered an unusual sonic experience.
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JK Rowling’s preposterous The Cuckoo’s Calling at least offers a retro antidote to Victoria
The BBC detective programme’s seams are showing, but at least it’s not as silly as the return of ITV’s…
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God’s Own Country is a love story for the Brexit times
A young Yorkshire farmer meets a Romanian labourer.
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Roddy Doyle returns to the trauma of school days in Smile
The author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha punctures the comedy of Irish storytelling.
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Why Thom Gunn is the poet laureate of male desire
Gunn’s formal craft and intelligence is up there with the best of our 20th-century poets.
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Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends is an Irish social novel for the modern age
An Irish book with little to say about nationalism or the church is a breakthrough – though that’s where…
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Michael Rosen’s latest memoir holds clues to the poet’s success
Rosen has the knack of instantly grabbing your attention.
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How Charles Darwin’s theories influenced the growth of the welfare state
At the turn of the 20th century, discussions about degeneration became entangled with fears of national decline.
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AN Wilson makes an unconvincing attempt to kick Darwin off his throne
Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker portrays the naturalist as an unscrupulous self-promoter who directly influenced Nazi eugenics.
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Happy face, sad face – are emojis the nearest thing to a universal language?
More people “speak” emoji than English.
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The EU is changing – and the UK attitude to Brexit could change too
The British may wish to join an outer tier of the EU.
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We are heading towards a world without animals
A little over 20 years ago, I saw a slender-billed curlew. Now it’s extinct.
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From FDR to Donald Trump – the decline of the American empire
Trump wants to “make America great again”, but as Great Little America.
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Does Trump’s nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea prove the madman strategy?
Evidence of actual craziness might help win a game of chicken, but at the risk of the driver going…
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20 years after Diana’s death, we still do not want the royal family to be happy
We’ve kept all the duties, the dehumanisation, the gilded cages; but now the poor bastards don’t even get to invade…
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Claire Tomalin’s Diary: Going to prison and talking about Jane Austen
Planting trees in the yard is a poor subsitute for reducing the prison population.
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Theresa May has expended all her capital and is living off an expensive overdraft
Her departure is unlikely to occur at a time of her choosing.
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Can Uber’s new boss steer the company out of the headlights?
Dara Khosrowshahi has a daunting in-tray.
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What the decline of the young driver reveals about British politics in 2017
The car has long been synonymous with success.
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I warned Jeremy Corbyn about Brexit – now Labour must regain its radicalism
Yanis Varoufakis on a radical vision for Brexit.
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The internet dictionary: what does it mean to be corncobbed?
Donald Trump will go down as the most corncobbed president in history.
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The Mussolini fans selling flip flops with the slogan “Death to traitors”
The northern Italian town of Predappio is the birthplace of Il Duce (“the Leader”).
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Labour’s new Brexit policy finally offers Remainers a glimmer of hope
Jeremy Corbyn has to placate three different views of Brexit within the party.
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Theresa May is taking on the fat cats – let’s hope she’ll include Tory donors
The Prime Minister does not name names.
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Leader: the fall of a great power
Under President Donald Trump, the US has relinquished its position in the world.
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