Notes from a very small island: wonderful, eccentric Ascension
For its 200th birthday, this strange and marvellous place is finally getting direct flights from St Helena
National Poetry Day broke the key rule of poetry readings: never let normal people do the reading
Plus: ‘the breath of lost countries’ filled the airwaves in Radio 3’s Between the Ears and what it’s like to hear Gandalf read your award-winning short story live on Radio 1?
Four great demolition disasters
Plus: Duelling EU figures, expensive police operations and a comparison of English and Saudi prisoners
Hunted blows a fresh breeze through the stale world of reality TV
But the Channel 4 producers no doubt had a hand in preventing those 'on the run' from hiding in a tent
Giselle has floored many a ballerina — it did so again last week
Plus: in praise of Birmingham Royal Ballet
The Program could do with a good dose of performance-enhancing drugs
It’s as if one half of the story can’t be bothered to go meet the other half, like the film’s bored of itself
With this Tate Britain exhibition, Frank Auerbach joins the masters
Everything about this show - where you will find much grandeur and majesty amid the flurries of thick paint - feels just right
Can politicians say ‘crusade’ again? David Cameron thinks so
The English-speaking warriors who set off to free the Holy Places did not call themselves crusaders
Why I’m glad my piano teacher spent more time chatting than teaching
Without Mrs Oates I might have become a better pianist - but I'm pleased I didn't
Ariadne shows what a wonderful operetta composer Richard Strauss could have been
Michael Tanner enjoys the first of Royal Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos but slips out to escape the final duet
What is it about Bill Viola’s films that reduce grown-ups to tears?
William Cook talks to the video artist about his new Yorkshire Sculpture Park show - and how he once nearly drowned
Dear Mary: Another way to deal with a maddening blackhead
Plus: Getting elderly acquaintances off the phone; the modern etiquette of thank-you letters
My home Stoke Park has become a hotbed of sex and violence
What was a very sedate life has been livened up by the arrival of murderers and vigilantes
How I’d make a success of a nude-free Playboy
I think it could have a very bright future as a magazine for octogenarian lotharios
Whoosh! I was addicted from the first gallop to the heavenly, godlike, immortal speed
It's ample compensation for the prospect of potential serious injury and imminent financial ruin
Why Jesus sometimes plays a very long game
We don’t know if our prayers are answered but we say them anyway
What Scottish professors have to fear from Nicola Sturgeon’s power grab
The SNP is binding universities closer to the state. Don’t expect it to stop there
Bridge
Two weeks playing the Bermuda Bowl (world championships) in Chennai ended heartbreakingly for England’s awesome Open Team and their loyal…
Dementia Love
You lie so quiet on your bed, You hear the sound and turn your head. I wait and hope, perhaps…
Britain should not mistake its allies for friends
Gove was right to pull out of the deal to train prison officers in Saudi Arabia
Charles Moore’s Notes: Diane the Posh Goddess and Osborne’s mania
Plus: I still don’t see how it could have been Keith Joseph who made the racist slur
Portrait of the week
Home Two groups were launched, one in favour of remaining in the European Union and the other in favour of…
Dementia Love
You lie so quiet on your bed, You hear the sound and turn your head. I wait and hope, perhaps…
