Culture

Writer’s block

Sally Feldman on a flawed portrait of Henry James

God of small meetings

Laurie Taylor asks for a show of hands. Wine will be served later

‘Witless Vulgarity’

A new study of reality TV audiences challenges lazy assumptions about the shows and their viewers. Annette Hill wants the critics to take a fresh look

Frontline Films

Mitchell Miller on two close-up views of the Arab-Israeli conflict

Spectre at the Feast

Jim Herrick enters the murky world of the ghost writer

Private Urgencies

Sarah Lawson is wowed by a progressive poet

Smoke and Mirrors

Wendy Grossman learns a few tricks from Jim Steinmeyer

Divine comedy

Popetown’s associate producer, Stacy Herbert, on the farcical story of how the BBC bowed to religious pressure

Throwing Up

Chris Paling is left queasy by Alice Walker

Heavenly bodies

Laurie Taylor finds himself at a feast that'’s impossible to swallow