From ugly duckling into swan – the remarkable transformation of Pamela Digby
The plump teenager who married Randolph Churchill soon turned herself into a ravishing beauty – to become the 20th century’s most influential seductress
Undercover in the Dordogne: Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner, reviewed
An American spy-for-hire uses her feminine wiles to infiltrate an eco-warrior group in rural France. But will she go off-piste and become indoctrinated?
The pitfalls of privilege and philanthropy: Entitlement, by Rumaan Alam, reviewed
An ambitious young black woman working for a charitable trust clashes with its white octogenarian founder over what each thinks they deserve
Man’s fraught relationship with nature extends back to prehistory
Archaeology indicates that the first migrations of hunters through Asia into the Americas and Australasia directly contributed to collapses in the Pleistocene megafauna
From tragedy to mockery: Munichs, by David Peace, reviewed
The devastating crash at Munich-Riem airport in 1959 haunts Manchester United fans to this day. Peace defies anyone to read his novel and use ‘Munichs’ as an insult ever again
The mystique of Henry V remains as powerful as ever
The belligerent young hero of Agincourt really was the model of a medieval monarch, doing the job exactly as it was supposed to be done, according to Dan Jones
The tedium of covering ‘the greatest trial in history’
The reporters who descended on Nuremberg in October 1945 included some of the century’s greatest writers. But the protracted proceedings would test their patience – and integrity
Observing nature observed: the art of Caspar David Friedrich
Friedrich’s scenes may appear to depict nature unbound, but they are also famous for their Rückenfiguren in the foreground, the men and women with their backs to us, facing what we also see
An outcast among outcasts: Katerina, by Aharon Appelfeld, reviewed
A peasant girl flees her abusive home, to find happiness working for Jewish families in the lush Carpathian countryside – until anti-Semitic pogroms change everything irrevocably
The power of mushrooms to kill or cure
Certain fungi poison not only to the animals but the trees that surround them, while others have valuable medicinal properties and can flag important changes to the ecosystem
The medieval English matriarch was a force to be reckoned with
Like many 15th-century women, Margaret Paston was a fearless protector of her family, supremely capable, in her husband’s absence, of defending their property against predatory neighbours
Women’s committee chair struggles to define a woman
To the Women and Equalities Committee, to which Labour’s Sarah Owen has been elected chair. The Labour MP for Luton…
Watch: Andy Haldane attacks Labour’s blackhole narrative
Sir Keir’s Labour government hasn’t been in power for long but already his administration is causing quite the stir. Pub…
The sham of an assisted dying ‘citizen’s jury’
It is remarkable that the BBC decided to give the latest PR exercise in favour of assisted suicide a big…
Could Starmer face a smoking ban rebellion?
Oh dear. It appears that Sir Keir Starmer’s own MPs are rather unhappy about the Prime Minister’s proposed smoking ban…
Russia started the war. Don’t forget that
It is easy to become frustrated when politicians make statements that are blindingly obvious. Sometimes, however, it can be a…
Cheap electric cars could be the latest Brexit benefit
If Starmer were to rejoin the EU tomorrow, arch-Remainer Gavin Esler tweeted the other day, what benefits of Brexit would…
Trump: rejection of religion is the reason for social decay
Donald Trump’s theological acumen goes about as far as an M1A1 tank being driven into deep water. No one can…
Christmas in … August?
Exploitative commercialism at its finest
Why is Putin expelling more British diplomats?
Another six bite the dust. The British Embassy in Moscow, already pared to the bone, is being reduced by another…
How Grenoble became one of the most dangerous places in France
At the start of this year Grenoble was described as ‘France’s Silicon Valley’ and listed as one of the most…
Should prisoners jump the queue for housing?
With the mass releases from prison underway, politicians have turned their attention to what happens after inmates leave jail. On…
