Why I’ll be joining the silver stampede to cash in my stakeholder pension
Plus: Business rates and the North/South divide, and Mark Carney’s new men at the Bank of England
Dare to be unaware
Once, campaigners and charities tried to fight social evils. Now they just tell us about them
Operation NHS
Simon Stevens may make more difference as chief executive of NHS England than anyone has yet realised
A dying language
It’s ‘the language of human rights’, says François Hollande. Not in Africa it isn’t
The equal pay bomb
Birmingham's £1 billion settlement on 'comparable jobs' makes outsourcing look very attractive
Madrid
It's not the idealistic, innocent city you might walk through at first. It's more interesting than that
A champion of liberal reform
A review of John Campbell’s biography of Roy Jenkins. The liberal reformer may have been snobbish and self-indulgent, but he was also a visionary
The sound of nervous laughter
A review of George Saunders’ award-winning book of short stories Tenth of December. Distinct, troubling, funny: Saunders is a worthy winner of the Folio prize
Paving the road to hell
A review of David Van Reybrouck’s Congo: The Epic History of a People. This panoramic history of a wronged nation is energised by first-hand testimonies and the author’s eye for arresting human detail.
Main currents of history
A review of Lincoln Paine’s The Sea and Civilization. A learned and deeply researched global view of maritime history
How many times have I told you?
A review of Keep Britain Tidy and Other Posters From the Nanny State, edited by Hester Vaizey. The voice of welfare Britain was intolerably bossy – but some of the graphics are beautiful
Directing the war effort
A review of Mark Harris’ Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. The brave irrational filmmakers who brought the war home
With death came glory
A review of Patrick Bishop’s The Reckoning. This biography of the Zionist freedom fighter (or terrorist, depending on your view) Avraham Stern is compelling stuff.
Put your lips together and blow
A review John Lucas and Allan Chatburn’s A Brief History of Whistling. Sheepdogs, Star Trek and the Guanch people of La Gomera: there's a serious side to whistling. But it's still incredibly annoying
Women’s world
The bard did not give his female characters pivotal roles — but some of his contemporaries did, as the new RSC season shows
An eye for the ladies
Ray Cooner’s caper Two Into One is like eating a pound of cheesy Wotsits, while Jon Fosse’s The Dead Dogs is like spending a night with five suicidal depressives
Bearing witness
The National Portrait Gallery brings together a vivid collection of Great War portraits
In tune with nature
From Manet and Degas to the Himalayas via Peru, painter Julian Cooper has journeyed around a fair bit for his art. His latest show focuses on Cumbria’s rocky outcrops
Preparatory studies
The Linbury Studio Theatre’s new commissions are hit and miss, while a musically focused new production of Ariodante at the RAM hits the spot
Man power
Breath-taking feats from the leads steer Kings of Dance night away from the trite and circusy
Our island story
The popular TV drama gives a vivid idea of how people might have behaved in the Middle Ages – which is brutally
