Robert Macfarlane’s new book is a plea to feel the pulse of our rivers

| Insights & Views

Suggesting that a river could be alive has the potential to change everything. Robert Macfarlane, one of Britains best-read writers on the natural environment, has done just this in his latest book. At one level, Is A...

Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo at the Royal Academy is dark and brilliant

| Insights & Views

The Royal Academys latest exhibition, Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo offers a rare glimpse into the dark and moody world of the renowned writer best known for his novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les...

Virginia Giuffre’s treatment in the media highlights the great consequences of accusing high profile men of abuse

| Insights & Views

Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent accusers of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has died at age 41. Her family said she died by suicide at her farm in Australia. Giuffre had long accused Prince Andrew of sexually...

Mabel Segun: Nigerian children’s writer, poet and broadcaster

| Insights & Views

Mabel Dorothy Okanima Segun, who passed away on 6 March 2025, at 95, was a prominent figure in Nigerian literature. Her life was an extraordinary mix of broadcasting, childrens storytelling, poetry, playwriting, and sport....

Laudato Si’: A look back on Pope Francis’s environmental legacy

| Insights & Views

The Vaticans College of Cardinals will soon gather in Rome to elect a new head of the Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis. As the church prepares for the papal conclave, the world is assessing Franciss...

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a dark parable about coercive control

| Insights & Views

Coercive or controlling behaviour in an intimate or family relationship became a criminal offence in the UK in December 2015. The legislation was the result of a long campaign by the charity Womens Aid to extend...

Thirty years on, our research linking viral infections with Alzheimer’s is finally getting the attention it deserves

| Insights & Views

The common cold sore virus, which is often caught in childhood, usually stays in the body for life quietly dormant in the nerves. Now and then, things like stress, illness or injury can trigger it, bringing on a cold sore...