OpinionChristmas This article is more than 1 year oldWhy I skipped Christmas – and why you might like to try it tooThis article is more than 1 year oldSandy SummonsStressed out from multiple yuletide family visits, we fled to New York one year and returned with a new-found clarity about what was really important
Christmas is the most magical time of the year. But is it really? Now I’m no grinch. Read More...
The ObserverShort storiesReviewThe novelist shows her expertise in the briefer format in tales of sexual power, self-delusion and flawed personality “This book came out of years spent learning to be a writer, a process that will never be complete,” Maggie Shipstead writes in the acknowledgments of her first story collection, You Have a Friend in 10A. It may sound over-earnest – indeed, the whole section does – but with Shipstead there’s always a sharp layer of self-awareness just beneath the surface. Read More...
Higher educationBook explores reason behind the rhymeJack and Jill went up in the hill anxious to lose their virginity, according to a social historian who has published a book documenting the real stories behind the nation's favourite nursery rhymes.
Chris Roberts, a librarian at the University of East London, claims the nursery rhymes we all grew up with are full of sex, disease and royal scandal.
Jack and Jill was about the loss of virginity, a possible teenage pregnancy and Jack running away the minute he had had his wicked way with Jill. Read More...