A late autumn afternoon in Tbilisi. A group of middle-aged men, neatly dressed in yellowing shirts and fading suits, are playing backgammon under the trees in a square in the Armenian quarter. Several have well-groomed moustaches. The atmosphere is jovial: Alexander, a proud man in his late fifties, dominates the group with his loud laughter. Were it not for the derelict shells of buildings behind them, this could be any [...]

The ascent of Michelle Obama represents the triumph of the power of personal branding. America's aspiring first lady embodies the principles of image management in the modern age. Don't confuse people with mixed messages. Present a clean, clear image. Adopt visual catchphrases: the recognisable hair, the sharp but relaxed suits, the fist bump. Her brand has it all: it feels au thentic, unique, memorable. She even describes "Team Obama" (herself [...]

A disturbing advert is currently running on Ukrainian television. It shows a girl in a blond wig - not unlike the one Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman - arriving on an airport conveyor belt, naked inside a cardboard box.

Her hand is stamped with a bar code. "Believe in your own strength. Don't take risks. Human beings are not goods," intones the voice-over.

The ad's soundtrack, "Not for Sale", [...]

This is a fascinating and complex book, highly controversial and often infuriating, in which the Canadian developmental psychologist Susan Pinker attempts to draw together all the evidence proving that there are vast gender differences. Pinker's premise can be misread in various ways, but it is not quite as bad as it initially sounds. She argues that men and women have been sold short in recent decades thanks to the feminist [...]

It's disturbing news that 23-year-old actor Scarlett Johansson will release an 11-track album in May. Anywhere I Lay My Head features ten Tom Waits covers and one original song. The internet buzz is that it "might actually be good".

This album is thus hyped because it is produced by the highly rated David Sitek of New York indie rock band TV on the Radio, and features members of the equally [...]

Another week, another nursery scare story. The latest news on pre-schoolers who have spent time being cared for outside the home goes for the jugular. A study of 3,400 American five-year-olds, conducted by the Temple University in Philadelphia, claims that childcare is not only damaging to the children who attend nursery - it also affects those children's future classmates in primary school.

The naughty nursery children's bad habits apparently rub [...]

Hard to believe that this month marks only the tenth anniversary of the first celebrity gossip website. In ten short years, the web has become dominated by round-the-clock obsession with celebrity. Mainstream culture has played catch-up ever since. Poor old newspapers, TV and magazines have to compete with people posting celebrity sightings, downloads to YouTube and "citizen-papped" mobile-phone photos. Where will it end?

It is amazing to think that in [...]

A warning poster appeared in my local supermarket last week: "No flour or eggs will be sold to anyone under the age of 16." Visions arose of long queues at the checkouts, youthful-looking customers desperate to get a last-minute Victoria sponge in the oven, screaming at staff that they were well past the age of consent. What on earth was behind this poster? Is there a new baking method that [...]

The internet has always been the ultimate playground for professional celebrity trashers. But now the sport is becoming an art form. An extraordinary website, Planethiltron.com, shows celebrities as they might easily have been if they were the same as the rest of us, by using Photoshop to transplant a mugshot of their face on to a picture of a "civilian" (Liz Hurley-speak for a non-famous person).

The idea is so [...]

So the McCanns have returned home. And what a homecoming. It was never going to be a pleasant experience for them, nor even a barely tolerable one, but the global media mob surrounding them last weekend seemed excessive by any standards. At the time of writing, the public prosecutor in Portugal was deciding whether charges should be brought against them.

It would be foolish for anyone not in possession of [...]