Scientists outshine arts students with experiments in creative writing

With no publication angst and a killer work ethic, science students easily match their peers in the humanities in the art of creative writing. It even makes them better scientists, says novelist and teacher Aifric Campbell

Dudley Knowles obituary

Other lives: Former professor of political philosophy at Glasgow University

Walter Redfern obituary

Other lives: Professor of French literature and prolific author whose books included volumes on Jean-Paul Sartre and on puns

Jacqueline Stedall obituary

Influential historian of mathematics who moved the subject towards a more inclusive world view

MI5 spied on leading British historians for decades, secret files reveal

Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill had phones tapped, correspondence intercepted and friends and wives monitored

Frank Cottrell Boyce: excessive analysis of books puts kids off reading

Writer to use David Fickling lecture to argue that some teaching methods promoting literacy are polluting the reading experience

Nigel Walker obituary

Former director of the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge who pioneered the development of the subject in the UK

The top 10 modernisers in literature

From the architects who built the postwar world to the writers who predicted its horrors, John Grindrod selects the books that best evoke the postwar pioneering spirit

Christine Ball obituary

Other lives: Librarian who became involved in many groups researching and collecting information on industrial history

Anna Morpurgo Davies obituary

Historical linguist who unlocked the secrets of Ancient Greek and Anatolian

Minecraft movie will be ‘large-budget’ but unlikely to arrive before 2017

Mojang COO Vu Bui talks Hollywood plans, YouTube and Minecraft books ahead of Microsoft acquisition. By Stuart Dredge

How to talk posh: a rarely marvlous glossary

Steven Poole: If one wants to ensure one never sounds Non-U again, one must really learn the difference between serviettes and napkins, and the correct way to pronounce waistcoat, forehead and golf

Posh Britain: will they always lord it over us?

Stuart Jeffries: In new film The Riot Club, based loosely on the antics of the notorious Bullingdon boys, a gaggle of toffs trash restaurants for larks. Who are these people, how did they turn out like this – and what does it tell us about privilege today?