When I’m having one of those moments when I can’t seem to find the perfect dress, it usually turns out the perfect dress has been eluding me because it wasn’t a dress at all. In 2016,...

The latest trend on the British high street is not a hemline but a concept: fashion, it seems, is going out of fashion. In their newest effort to fight for survival, high street stalwarts John Lewis and Marks...

I’ve always ignored “workout makeup” here, not because I object even remotely to women wearing whatever they damned well please to the gym, but because I’ve never “worked out” in my life. But while, perhaps regrettably,...

Regrets, recipes for herbal tea and dreams of Winnie dancing … Mandela’s letters from Robben Island reveal the family man behind the political warrior In 1969, six and a half years into his 27 year imprisonment, Nelson...

When Paul Robeson, aged and ailing, was asked on 12 June 1956 by the House Un-American Activities Committee whether he was a member of the Communist party, he replied: “Would you like to come to the ballot box when...

In recent times grime, once regarded as anti-music for lumpen proles, has been glittering. Its performers have headlined rock festivals, won the Mercury prize, and, after some of them campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn at the last general...

Two of the most monstrous regimes in human history came to power in the 20th century, and both were predicated on the violation and despoiling of truth, on the knowledge that cynicism and weariness and fear...

Until you get your nose quite close to a fitness pursuit, you never know what kind of passion it arouses. Swimmers are like runners who’ve grown up, or cyclists who’ve found peace. They talk more about...

Stoke-on-Trent has been identified as the debt capital of England and Wales, according to official figures. The Midlands city had the highest rate of personal insolvencies in 2017, followed by Plymouth, Hull and Scarborough. The former industrial centre...

The Argentine restaurant group Gaucho is teetering on the brink of administration, putting 1,500 jobs at risk, as it races to secure a deal that will help it pay a £1m-plus tax bill. The company is...