It's that time of year again. Gentle squabbles over moon sightings, the stockpiling of frozen samosas, and the dreaded "Ramadan breath", which means we have to keep a miswak teeth-cleaning stick (or, more likely, a toothbrush) on us at all times. For tomorrow is the start of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.
Taekwondo star Aaron Cook has spoken publicly for the first time since turning his back on Great Britain and switching his allegiance to Moldova.
When economics and politics clash, economics invariably wins. But the battle can take years and during that time, not only does deep economic misery result, but the political aims are lost in the process. And so it is with Greece.
The wonderful thing about freedom of speech is, while I can write what I like (within the law), you equally have the right to say it’s claptrap. With Twitter and, increasingly, online petitions, everyone can have their say. This is wonderful – I even applaud the guy who occasionally sends me tweets, copying in my editor, calling for my sacking because I’ve written something that offends him.
Three years ago today, Saudi Arabian police arrested Raif Badawi for the crime of running a website “that propagates liberal thought”. His blog had put the case for secularism in observations such as this: “States which are based on religion confine their people in the circle of faith and fear.”
“Can we just say we're completely pro sex.” The physical theatre company,RashDash, who are collaborating here with playwright Alice Birch, have not mounted this turbulent challenge to pornography on prudish grounds.
Head for the great outdoors for some alfresco dining with everything from cheese boards to wine coolers, all in handy cases
All women have a unique health issue that is largely ignored in the workplace: the menopause. It’s time we treated it with all the seriousness and care it deserves. And we can start by breaking the silence and ending the stigma.
Controversial theatre veteran Steven Berkoff has attacked a critic for "warbling" about "how fortunate we are that actors no longer black-up" for roles.
Without irony the entirety of the British establishment descended on Runnymede yesterday with all the pomp and ceremony the British state can muster. Archbishops, the royal family and the Prime Minister opined on the great document which had forever altered “the balance of power between the governed and the government”. It’s a pity that for over a decade government after government has been desperate to tilt the scales of power once again towards a Leviathan state, and against the people.
George Osborne is a smart imitator. A shadow Chancellor in his early thirties and a Chancellor before he was 40, Osborne looked to Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson, Gordon Brown and others as models to follow. Now a mighty Chancellor in his second term, he can imitate himself.
Mozart’s Turkish opera filters an imagined East through Western sensibilities, and it presents tricky problems in how the Ottoman court and its ruler Pasha Selim and bloodthirsty gaoler Osmin should be portrayed; moreover, its violent references have now become chillingly topical.
When Rolf Harris wrote his letter and song denouncing his victims – describing them as money-grabbing "wenches" who want to make him "dance" – he did more than simply reveal his arrogance and callous contempt for his accusers.
1. “To open up the debate.” How soft-headed is the Labour Party still? It “opened up the debate” last time, when Diane Abbott stood as the Socialist Campaign Group candidate, which likes to call itself the Labour left but which ought to be called Labour Friends of the Tories. She won 7 per cent of the vote among party members. Labour has had that debate and Labour Friends of the Tories lost.
When the BBC’s digital comedy and youth channel, BBC Three, was launched a little over five years ago, it was with the slogan: “Three, is a magic number, yes it is.”
For all the glamour, power, vast overspending, intense global media attention and genuinely complex national challenges facing the contenders and the American people, the race for the White House this year and next could come down to one central psephological question – who will win the Hispanic vote?