Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

A lecture explaining why using our imaginations, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens. It’s important for people to tell you what side they are on and why, and whether they might be biased. A declaration of members interests, of a sort. So, I am going to be talking […]

GoldieBlox agreed to pay $1m to charity in Beastie Boys settlement

Argument over ‘fair use’ of Girls song ended in March with deal to donate to STEM education for girls. By Stuart Dredge. In March, the Beastie Boys reached a settlement with the US toy company GoldieBlox over the latters parody of their song Girls in a viral advert. Now the details of that settlement have […]

How one woman harnessed people power to save old New York

New film tells story of Jane Jacobss battle’s against the wealthiest developers in the city. She was a beaky, bespectacled architecture writer, hardly a figure likely to ignite protests that changed the shape of one of the worlds great cities. Yet such is the legend of Jane Jacobs and her bitter struggles to preserve the […]

Can you judge a book by its odour?

Cocoa, wood, rusks every book has a distinctive smell. And each smell says something about how and when it was made, and where it has been. What does it mean to experience a book? To a bibliophile such as Alberto Manguel, smell plays an important part. In a talk at the British Library this week, […]