‘Great snakes!’ Tintin expert appointed UK’s first comics professor

Lancaster University shows ‘full academic commitment’ to comics and graphic book art with the appointment of Benoit Peeters

Van Akin Burd obituary

Literary scholar who devoted most of his career to the study of John Ruskin

Publishers answer minister’s call to offer schools cheap classics

Major imprints ‘confident’ they can meet schools minister Nick Gibb’s challenge to inspire children with sets of canonical novels at ‘minimal cost’

Read the Short Story Week young writer competition 2015-winning The Promise

To celebrate Short Story Week, we have the winning entry to the National Short Story Week young writer competition. Here is The Promise by Amber Lahdelma

The dating gap: why the odds are stacked against female graduates finding a like-minded man

More women than men are graduating in many countries – but according to Date-onomics, a new book on hook-up culture, there’s a downside: there may not be enough educated men to go round

John Norris Wood obituary

Distinguished natural history illustrator who taught at the Royal College of Art

John Blatchly obituary

Other lives: Headteacher and champion of historical activities in Suffolk

Shirley Conran: ‘Maths is a feminist issue’

The author of Superwoman and Lace has produced a course aimed at convincing girls that even Beyoncé must know how to check her investment portfolio

We’ll lose something vital if we stop debate on campus and beyond

It is vital that we remain exactly what we are: a tolerant society that makes no demand on us but to obey the rule of law

Philip Pullman decries ‘terrible state’ of children’s education in the arts

His Dark Materials author disparages obsession with league tables and calls for theatre visits to be made part of curriculum

Readers suggest the 10 best ancient Romans

Last week we brought you our 10 best ancient Romans. Here we present your thoughts on who should have made the top 10

‘Prisoners are like CEOs – they’re skilled at hiding low self-esteem’

Life coach Clare McGregor pushed executives and police officers to reach their potential. Now she mentors the residents of Styal women’s prison

The 10 best ancient Romans

Professor Mary Beard picks out her favourite ancient Romans

Children’s author Cressida Cowell scoops philosophers’ award for fight against stupidity

How to Train Your Dragon author joins Noam Chomsky and Raymond Tallis as winner of Philosophy Now prize after encouraging ‘deep reflection’ in young readers

Sherry Turkle: ‘I am not anti-technology, I am pro-conversation’

In the social media age, we know how to connect: but are we forgetting how to talk to each other? Leading psychologist Sherry Turkle wants to fight back