Bath festival’s reading will revive the spirit of the King James Bible

Lindesay Irvine: It was written, says Jeanette Winterson, 'to be read out loud'. A cover-to-cover preachathon at Bath should test that theory

Spinoza, part 3: What God is not

Clare Carlisle: In his Ethics, Spinoza wanted to liberate readers from the dangers of ascribing human traits to God

Why writers make reluctant revolutionaries

For all the romance of the writer as revolutionary, few have dared to man the barricades, writes Robert McCrum

Opinion directs the boot of truth at the crotch of power. Long may it sting

Simon Jenkins: After Baltimore's raucous HL Mencken died, some felt the age of the column was over. Yet today news is the endangered species

Nicolas Sarkozy triggers row with Mexico over French kidnapper

France's president accused of acting like a banana republic dictator by demanding Mexico release Florence Cassez

Spinoza, part 2: Miracles and God’s will

Clare Carlisle: Spinoza's belief that miracles were an unexplained act of nature, not proof of God, proved dangerous and controversial

Borders poised for bankruptcy in US

Bookstore chain whose UK arm went bust at the end of 2009 will bid to renegotiate debts in US under chapter 11 protection

Tensions rise in Italy over Silvio Berlusconi sex charges

Beleaguered prime minister due to meet president as judge prepares to rule on indictment allegation

The Guardian rosetta: the Datablog reference guide to nearly everything

Looking for ISO country codes? This is now the place to come. We want to make it easier to map data and keep it consistent. Take a look at our reference guide to IDs, codes and names and see how you can help make it better• Get the data

VS Naipaul does Trinidad a disservice

Richard Sudan: The new government, free of racial divide, represents a modern Trinidad far from Naipaul's mocking contempt

WikiLeaks threatens legal action against Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Julian Assange characterised as being obsessed by power in former WikiLeaks employee's account of his time with website

Do sex strikes ever work?

A senator in Belgium has proposed a sex strike as a way of ending the country's lengthy negotiations around forming a new government. But will it work?