'Now where?' asks the speaker in 'Three Glances at a Field of Poppies', the opening poem in Deryn Rees-Jones' new collection, Burying the Wren. This question can be asked with an emphasis on either word: 'Now where?' or 'Now where?' In either case, there is a sense of...

It is 50 years since Doris Lessing's most famous novel, The Golden Notebook, was published. As a recent retrospective in The Guardian made clear, it is a book that still has a capacity to inspire and divide readers. Diana Athill speaks for others when she criticizes Lessing for...

Clint Dempsey is having a remarkable season. The American international is the fourth-highest goalscorer in the Premier League in 2011-12, with 16 goals (so far) for Fulham, and he has scored a further six in cup competitions. In the process, he has become the most prolific U.S. goalscorer in the...

Last summer, I was puzzled to receive a reference for a mature applicant to a part-time degree at Bristol University, for whom we had not received an application form. When we investigated, it transpired that the applicant had decided not to apply at the last minute, because she felt such...