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How ex-bank manager Clive Gravett became obsessed with Edwin Beard Budding, the inventor of the lawnmower.
From thinking about family to remembering Carrie Fisher, the first week of the new year left me strangely optimistic.
After the Reine nightclub attack, internal conflicts look set to escalate further.
This week's best gossip in Westminster – from mice to brass bands.
Remembering the writer and former New Statesman critic, who died on 2 January 2017.
Vince Cable makes the liberal case for immigration controls.
David Cameron's last project was to end the race divide among British voters. But can it last under May's government?
The voting power of pensioners has long had a distorting effect on British politics.
Opinion polls have shown that most voters, in theory, favour a fall in house prices. But do they in practice?
As I reflect on the new year, I remember that democracy alone can't prevent dictators – but try to not become Eeyorish.
The illusion of sovereignty conferred by the referendum will vanish once the negotiations begin.
This was an altogether different Saddam from the cold, hard figure the outside world knew.
How the “hippie tycoon” Dale Vince – a pioneer of renewable energy – plans to turn football and our motorways green.
The left-right axis is no longer the most important division in politics. Six of our writers explore the new divides.
From rebellion and religion to swimming and surrealism – these are the books to look out for in the new year.
Manet and Degas, Matisse and Picasso – The Art of Rivalry by Sebastian Smee reminds us that who we meet can change who we are.
New books Future Sex and The Selfishness of Others explore what it means to live in our current moment.
The clash of wills behind 2001: a Space Odyssey reminds me that scientific education, not mystery, was always closest to my friend’s heart.
Lay Down Your Weary Tune by W B Belcher reminds us what a good setting the folk scene can be – and what rich characters you can place in it.
J A Bayona’s arboreal fantasy A Monster Calls doesn't have "good guys" or "bad guys" – as in real life, most people are somewhere in between.
Sometimes a deerstalker is just a deerstalker. Plus: why The Halcyon fails.
radio.garden picks up transmissions from every corner of the globe.
A new poem by Andrew McMillan.
Jane Shilling admires the exhilarating visions of the modern Hungarian master László Krasznahorkai.
John Bew on The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region by Michael R Auslin.
Whether it's boring, homogenous, shiny fruit or dying bumblebees, do as Ronald Reagan said: “Just Say No.”
I want to be here to see my older grandchildren, now aged 16, leave college, if they ever go, and get a job (they’ll be lucky). But mostly, I want to see China win.
Too often, we mistake thirst for hunger (and vice-versa).
My bedroom looks like a junkie’s squat and I’m full of phlegm – but then Proust was a wreck, too.
Sir William Tite was an MP for Bath from 1855 until his death in 1873.
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