Charlie Brooker: Tea and empathy
Charlie Brooker is a savagely funny satirist who takes aim at modern irrationality. But in person, he’s a rather more gentle soul, writes Ariane Sherine
Have world religions been the cause of violence throughout the ages?
Jonathan Rée reviews Karen Armstrong's Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence (The Bodley Head)
People power
The history of Western art tells a story of how humans came to think of themselves as beings who could shape the world, writes Kenan Malik
Oddballs, loners and voyeurs
Fatema Ahmed surveys the strange and varied career of the novelist Muriel Spark
Ten cosmic myths
Why is the sky at night dark? What does gravity do? How big is the universe? Does time go forwards or backwards? Marcus Chown has some answers that may surprise you . . .
