Mary Beard reflects on exam season - past and present. Read more
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Testing Times
Mary Beard reflects on exam season - past and present.
Why we should be religious but not spiritual
Tom Shakespeare argues that we should be religious but not spiritual.
Should we be frightened of disability?
Tom Shakespeare argues that we have nothing to fear from disability.
Bring Back the Heptarchy!
Tom Shakespeare asks if England should consider returning to an earlier order.
No Burning Required
As libraries close, AL Kennedy argues that we must reassess the importance of books.
If You Haven't Got Anything Nice to Say...
AL Kennedy argues for a world with less gossip.
Battling the Botnets
AL Kennedy asks if it is time for us to rethink our devotion to computers.
To See Ourselves
AL Kennedy explores the downsides of personal and national introspection.
Isis: A modern revolutionary force?
John Gray argues that the Sunni extremist group Isis is revolutionary, not reactionary.
Believing in reason is childish
John Gray argues that the belief in human reason is more 'childish' than religious faith.
Is patriotism the last refuge of the scoundrel?
Will Self reflects on what really lies behind our sense of patriotism.
The Changing Nature of Utopias
Will Self reflects on what the changing nature of utopias says about us.
Believing in Beliefs
Will Self offers a weekly reflection on a topical issue.
The Affliction of Consumption
Will Self reflects on the power of modern-day consumption and the effect it has on us.
What's Funny?
Will Self reflects on comedy, asking what really makes us laugh.
Why Orwell Is the Supreme Mediocrity
Will Self takes on one of the nation's best-loved figures, George Orwell.
When fiction comes to the historian's rescue
Lisa Jardine on how fiction can be more useful than fact in helping us understand the past
The Horror of War
Lisa Jardine says commemorating a war should not mean losing sight of its horror.
Red Dress Sense
Red may be now fashionable, but in the past it was powerful, reflects Lisa Jardine.
Keeping Time
Lisa Jardine reflects on the history of timepieces and the power of clocks and watches.
Short and Successful
Adam Gopnik thinks there is a simple reason why short men enjoy stable marriages.
Dying with Dignity
Adam Gopnick thinks we fail all too often to let people die with dignity.
The Football Fallacy
Adam Gopnik explains why the English are better at watching football than at playing it.
A Lesson from Love Locks
Adam Gopnik draws a lesson on the nature of love from the eyesore of love locks in Paris.
Cures for Anxiety
Adam Gopnik identifies four different types of anxiety that afflict modern people.
Capitalism and the Myth of Social Evolution
John Gray reflects on why the advance of capitalism is not inevitable.
Soylent and the Charm of the Fast Lane
John Gray explores why human beings crave busy lives.
Dostoevsky and Dangerous Ideas
John Gray points to lessons from the novels of Dostoevsky about the danger of ideas.
Thinking the Unthinkable
John Gray argues that 'thinking the unthinkable' means exaggerating fashionable beliefs.
Faking It
Roger Scruton muses on the difference between genuine art and that based on fake emotion.
Kitsch
Why the fear of producing kitsch art has led to a new kind of pre-emptive kitsch.