Canadian poet becomes first woman to win TS Eliot Prize
Canadian poet Anne Carson last night became the first woman to win the TS Eliot Prize.
Peter, Jane and Harry
The Peter and Jane books date from a bygone era in literacy education. As a new exhibition of illustrations opens, Chris Arnot catches up with one of their creators.
The flowers of Scotland
What did the Cinderella nation do for the modern world? Everything, discovers Irvine Welsh after reading Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots' Invention of the Modern World by Arthur Herman
The glory that was Paris
How did France lose its grip on the art world? Eunice Lipton looks for clues in the Royal Academy's new show
The damn’d face business
Richard Shone reads John Klein's Matisse Portraits and finds that the master of colour excelled at portraiture, but just didn't enjoy it
Libertines unite
John Mullan reads David Stevenson's The Beggar's Benison: Sex Clubs of Enlightenment Scotland and Their Rituals and finds a lot of masturbation amongst the intellectuals
Body of evidence
If fingerprinting tells us whodunnit, insects show us when, finds Roy Porter as he delves into the world of forensic science
Just say no
Ian Penman follows Decca Aitkenhead around the world but finds that The Promised Land: Travels in Search of the Perfect E is too full of dull drug-taking to really capture the imagination
Lord Young of Dartington
A towering figure in postwar social policymaking, he invented the Open University and the Consumers' Association.
The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093-1343, by Rees Davies
Based on a series of lectures, The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093-1343, by Rees Davies, recently won the British Academy's first annual book prize. This excerpt is taken from chapter five.
‘Dark side’ of libel lawyer revealed
George Carman, who successfully defended the Guardian against Jonathan Aitken, saw his personal life blighted by alcoholism, gambling and sexual confusion. By Paul Kelso.