The public rage over revelations that governments snoop on our online activity comes partly from a sense that our online selves are not entirely in our control. The more networked we are, the more our selves are 'out there', online, made public and transparent to a million eyes.

On the...

Last week, I traveled to Durham to visit my godmother, who has just been made principal of one of the colleges of Durham University. She invited me to high table at one of their formal black-tie dinners, and then asked me to give a little after-dinner speech. It was somewhat...

I've just been at a three-day seminar at the Institute for Government, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to help academics learn how to influence public policy. The seminar brought together 15 academics in disciplines ranging from literary criticism to design and urban planning.The IFG arranged...

Here are my top ten tips for recovering from mental illness. Tell me any really good tips I've missed out in the comments. They're not commandments, just what worked for me - feel free to disagree.

1) Know your enemy

If you have a particular condition or group of conditions,...

I was at a drinks party of a history conference this week, talking to a young academic who was writing a PhD. "And what are you working on?'" she asked me. I said I was researching the role of support groups and self-help networks in education and health.

"Oh", she...

It's heartening for a young writer when the Chief Rabbi of your country writes a column responding to your book, and says some kind things about it - so thanks are in order to Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks for using my book as a springboard for his discussion...

I'm one of the organisers of the London Philosophy Club. We're one of hundreds of self-organised ideas and discussion groups that have mushroomed all over the world in the last 10 years. Today, you can find (deep breath) Socrates Cafes, Cafe Philosophiques,

Undergraduates across the country are now preparing for one of the most intense moments of their young lives: finals. I remember scenes of chaos from my own finals exams just over a decade ago: one friend staggering around the campus with three years of notes in a black bin-liner, another...