In July, David Cameron gave Barack Obama a £2500 painting by Ben Eine in an art swap. Apparently, Samantha Cameron heard about Ben through her friend Anya Hindmarch, and became a fan of his work – even though Eine is only the fifth best-selling artist at Brighton based Art Republic ... Read More...

Motown continues to exert its influence on popular music, as today’s acts use those lovely swooping vocal harmonies and up-and-down melodies over contemporary beats. The best modern songs - Outkast’s Hey Ya, Amy Winehouse’s Rehab, Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls and, above all, Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy – are as catchy as ... Read More...

It was a sweltering day. I was strolling along the lane that runs from Pointy Town to Filthdock when I chanced upon a Jesuit priest sitting on a bench. I tipped my hat and greeted him. “Hello,” I said, “What a sweltering day it is.” “Felix Randal the farrier O is he ... Read More...

A while back, I wrote here about William Maxwell's Time Will Darken It.  Since then, I've read more of his work, and have just finished The Chateau - a novel that could hardly be more different from Time Will Darken It, or, come to that, from any of the others - ... Read More...

Dabbler Soup is our new food and booze feature. We're hoping to bring you guest posts from some of the top bloggers in the gourmand/gluttony area. Inevitably there'll be a distinctively British flavour to Dabbler Soup, so for the debut Worm kicks us off with, appropriately enough, Fish & Chips... ... Read More...

The Song of Lunch, BBC2’s filmed version of Christopher Reid’s long poem, was excellent. I had some misgivings because a poem’s own words should be able to take care of themselves without the help of images and it’s an abomination to put music behind a poem, but I found it effective ... Read More...

Today's Dabbler Country is a guest post by Guardian writer Patrick Barkham, whose book The Butterfly Isles - A Summer in Search of Our Emperors and Admirals is published by Granta this month. For those of us who join the likes of Vladimir Nabokov, John Fowles and the famous clown Joseph ... Read More...

“As a writer and broadcaster about the arts, Jonathan Meades is essentially a nightmare that is happening to the spinning cadaver of Kenneth Clark.” Clive James Where is Jonathan Meades? In the mid Nineties, he seemed ubiquitous. Turn on a TV in the evening and he'd probably be there, caricaturing himself. ... Read More...

According to Russell Davies the future isn't what it used to be, even in sci-fi: It's hard to miss the missing future in science fiction. Zero History [William Gibson's new novel] feels like it's set in the past, actually last year... I went to see Mr Gibson talk last night and he ... Read More...

In about 1996, I got a deal to write a book about unlicensed boxing. I was arrogant enough to think I could actually write a book. I wish I had the excuse of being young, but I wasn’t really. I was just younger, which is no excuse at all. What ... Read More...