Questions of style

Language is an essential part of national identity, so why is Guardian America going to comply with the newspaper's British English guidelines?

English at work courses launched for migrants

The lifelong learning and higher education minister, Bill Rammell, has announced the launch of more work-focused English language qualifications for migrant workers.

Gene genie

Any day now Craig Venter - geneticist, yachtsman and Vietnam veteran - will announce that he has achieved one of the greatest feats in science: the creation of artificial life. He talks to Ed Pilkington.

Atheists arise: Dawkins spreads the A-word among America’s unbelievers

· Author outlines campaign to give godless a voice · New organisation appeals to 'downtrodden' millions

Discredited Irving plans comeback tour

· Historian blames Himmler, but not Hitler · Writer freed from jail says views have 'crystallised'

Riverside expansion for Bodleian library approved

Oxford University has been granted permission to build a £29m extension to the world famous Bodleian Library on the banks of the Thames.

British Library faces threat to treasures

Budget cuts will force second-rate response to digital challenge, warns chief.

Richard Hogg

Obituary: Eminent scholar who co-authored the Cambridge History of the English Language.

Solution or disaster? Bodleian’s plan for £29m store divides Oxford

Critics say library's answer to shortage of space, which it estimates would not only solve the current crisis but also give it shelving space for the next 20 years, would affect flood plain and harm view of 'dreaming spires'.

Node idea

A new science fiction novel is threatening to completely overhaul the way literary criticism is conducted, claims John Sutherland.

All the world’s a stage

Tommy Dodds: I think drama should be a compulsory part of life for everyone, but for a start I will settle for getting it on the national curriculum.

The voice inside

An innovative programme at a pioneering prison helps long-stayers to write - and perform - their own poems. Louise Tickle reports.

Bedtime stories a problem for many parents

One in 10 parents struggle to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children.