The author of The Girl on the Train on discovering Alison Bechdel, identifying with Physical, and her favourite new crime novelBorn in Zimbabwe in 1972, author Paula Hawkins studied PPE at Oxford University before joining the Times as a business journa…
‘For comfort viewing, it’s quite rock’n’roll’: Why Changing Rooms is back
The flamboyant home makeover show has returned after 17 years and is one of a host of similar shows designed to cheer up the nationA sex swing inspired by the floating palace hotel in Udaipur – it was what Swansea had been calling out for,” says Lauren…
Alan Johnson: ‘John Betjeman was wrong about Slough’
The former health secretary and acclaimed memoirist on his rock’n’roll past, how the Litvinenko poisoning inspired his new thriller, and how he’d have handled CovidAlan Johnson grew up in working-class Notting Hill, London, in the 1950s, raised by his …
Top dips: synchronised swimmers snapped by Eva Watkins – in pictures
“I dreamed that I was a synchronised swimmer performing with a group of people,” says London-based photographer Eva Watkins, who often gets inspiration for projects while half-asleep or dreaming. The reverie sparked a new series taken at Bristol’s Henl…
Dear Diary: how keeping a journal can bring you daily peace
Writing a diary is a great way to offload – and, if memory fails, it’s a wonderful window on the pastI still get funny looks from people when I mention that I keep a diary. Maybe the practice strikes them as shifty or weirdly old-fashioned. It’s true t…
Neuroscientist Anil Seth: ‘We risk not understanding the central mystery of life’
The professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience discusses his work to develop a scientific explanation for how the brain conjures consciousnessFor centuries, philosophers have theorised about the mind-body question, debating the relationship …
The week in audio: Love Is a Crime; The Great James Bond Car Robbery; The Reunion: The Day Today
A Hollywood star scandal gets some Vanity Fair pizzazz; 007’s stolen Aston Martin makes for a fun true crime podcast; and the cast of Chris Morris’s seminal news satire look back fondlyLove Is a Crime Vanity Fair/Cadence13The Great James Bond Car Robbe…
Chris Barber: A Trailblazer’s Legacy – the evolution of a jazz hero
(The Last Music Co)The late bandleader’s 70-year career packed in restless shifts of style, virtuoso skill and guest spots from jazz’s bestWhen Chris Barber died, aged 90, in March, he had only recently retired after leading a band for 70 years. You ca…
Forget shops: how Stockton on Tees ripped up the rule book to revive its high street
Stockton-on-Tees is leading a radical rethink of our urban centres, which is now even more urgent as Covid takes its tollA few months before the pandemic struck, Nigel Cooke found himself under incredulous interrogation at a Local Government Associatio…
Pig review – a low-key Nicolas Cage on the trail of a missing porker
Director Michael Sarnoski promises a revenge thriller but delivers something much quieter and more profoundA truffle-hunting pig has been kidnapped. Her grizzled owner, Rob (Nicolas Cage), abandons a quiet, off-grid life in the woods and sets out on a …