Clubland battle of the bookmen
When a gossip columnist criticised Thackeray, Dickens weighed in to savage his rival
Border bard
"Patrick Kavanagh wrote about an Ireland that “froze for want of Europe”. He was thinking of an Ireland that history had removed from the
Bombs reopen Sri Lanka’s divisions
Islamist terror attacks in Colombo revealed government incompetence
Be mindful of the latest magic bullet
Mindfulness is all the rage, from big corporations to the NHS. Is it a panacea for many societal problems or just a short-lived fad?
Belly of the beast
The Booker-winning Marlon James takes on the fantasy genre with a novel sent in a phantasmagorical version of Africa
Baked-in bias
‘Once social media entities become publishers, any political bias already present will be baked in’
A question of attribution
The forthcoming sale of a purported Caravaggio is set to exceed £100m, but its provenance is far from clear
A penny saved
"60 per cent of coppers are used only once before being consigned to a piggy bank. Clearly, few can bear to feel their pockets