Nayef Al-Rodhan

Neuroscientist, geostrategist and prolific author

The role and political repercussions of human ego, emotions and sensibilities in state conduct and international relations are, less transient and more pervasive than it is often acknowledged. This paper analyses the concept of state emotionality and briefly discusses the theory of " Symbiotic Realism, " as a more comprehensive framework for interstate relations in our modern, connected and interdependent world that takes into account the role of emotionality in state behavior.

Deborah C Dooley

Journalist and owner of a writer's' retreat. www.retreatsforyou.co.uk

'I mean, it's not as if we don't have it,' she said hurriedly. 'Our savings account is very healthy.' I nodded, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't see me and then hoping that she'd sense my understanding. I felt saddened that like so many others, she felt that the love affair she was having with writing wasn't worthy of her time and money. That she didn't deserve to have this passion in her life.

Claire Morley-Jones

Managing director, HR180 ltd

A company culture is often created by a single person: the company founder. It is a set of values and behaviours that employees are asked to buy into in order to be successful at that company. If "done well" the company culture can bring many benefits. A positive company culture gives clients and customers a strong brand to identify with; it helps employees understand what success and achievement looks like, and gives them clear goals.

Thomas Woodham Smith

Creative Director of Masterpiece London

As I walk the week past washes over me. In a weird way I am not only leaving London I am also saying goodbye to the last week. It was an extraordinary week.

Balaji Ravichandran

Writer, Critic and Occasional Journalist

Don't take it personally, some of you tell me. We want highly skilled immigrants, who contribute greatly to the country, and are not a burden on the state. But, how can I not take it personally? Just as every gay man would be offended by a homophobic sentiment, when all major election parties think of immigration as a 'problem,' it is hard not to take it personally.

Will Porter

Glam Rocking and Leftwing Politicking

If two of a nation's biggest cultural icons are face-changing aliens it should be considered more than a coincidence. Born in the public imagination within six years of each other David Bowie and Doctor Who have taken strangely similar journeys.

B.J. Epstein

Lecturer in literature and public engagement, University of East Anglia

One only needs to look around the world at the terrible situation for many girls and women to realise that feminism is still necessary and vital. But even once females have better living conditions and more rights, feminism still has a role to play as women try to shape careers. Several recent news stories have made it clear that women are way behind when it comes to careers in the arts.

Will Self

Will Self is a novelist, journalist and RAPt supporter

You don't need to have suffered from addictive illness (although it undoubtedly helps) to understand that abstinence-based recovery is the only method that really works - in the sense of bringing the individual completely face-to-face with the underlying psychological problems that cause him or her to use drugs and alcohol in the first place. Nor do you need to be an addict (although, once again, in indisputably helps), to know that the current Kafkaesque condition of our prisons is a direct result of addiction treatments that are really nothing of the sort.

Bonnie Greer

American-born, London-based playwright, author and novelist

'Athletes' gave me the same feeling that I experienced decades ago when I first saw 2001, a film that no one could have been prepared for. This dance piece has the same feeling of coming to grips with mortality, fragility, of time passing, and infinity. Like Stanley Kubrick, you can feel this choreographer's utter dedication, his complete self-belief.

Harriet Williamson

English Literature MA student at the University of York - writes, paints, collects clothes and forgets to play it cool.

Out of the seething mass of horror films I have both endured and absorbed over the last four years, it is the French titles that stand out most in my mind. They refuse to be ignored. They are visceral, shocking and innovative and they stay with me long after the final credits are over.

Louise Pennington

Feminist Writer

The older I get, the more I believe that 'equality' is nothing more than a smokescreen to prevent the true liberation of women. Equality before the law means nothing when violence is endemic; when women are most likely to live in poverty; when no one bothers to actually enforce the existing equality legislation.

Laura Palmer

Publishing director

My first thought was - hurray! That's my May reading sorted. I know it's not very cool to like Dan Brown, but I do. Not wholly unlike The Abomination, I thought. Oh. Wait a second. The Abomination. Our big white hope. The book that would make us millionaires, give us iPads For All.

Bonnie Greer

American-born, London-based playwright, author and novelist

The fact is, as you know, tourists don't flock to this great country to watch the footie, or eat in the restaurants. They come to visit the stately homes, for example. How much are all the volunteers who work in these places worth? Culture, one industry that is actually growing , has always punched above its weight. It is one of the key factors in making the UK the Number One nation in the world for the arts.

Kathy Lette

Author, ambassador for the National Autistic Society

Trying to protect a child with special needs from being bullied is like trying to stop ice melting in the desert. There were calls to the school, meetings, promises of closer scrutiny in the playground. But basically, when it comes to defeating bullying - particularly when your child is an obvious target ­ - a parent might as well be standing up to Voldermort with a butter knife.

Caroline Frost

Entertainment Editor, Huffington Post UK

Last week saw the London unveiling of a brand new artist, at the prestigious Mead Carney Gallery in Mayfair, and there's already talk, not least the question being asked... is this the new Banksy?

Sara Sheridan

Historical novelist and self-confessed swot

I write historical fiction. I've been a full-time professional writer for almost 20 years. I realized early on that being an author is a hugely misunderstood job. Because there are no pay grades and very little structure, people make interesting assumptions about the profession.