GamesOur critics chose their favourite game releases of the year, starting with Respawn Entertainment’s mech blaster, Titanfall
Here we go again. From blockbuster mainstream hits to lesser-known indie gems, these are the 25 games that have kept our reviewers glued to their gigantic HD televisions this year. As ever, it’s a highly subjective list, based on the titles we genuinely played and played, rather than the critical hits we thought we really ought to consider.
We were always trying to push boundaries: Jim Howick on breaking taboos, coping with life and
The ObserverJim HowickInterview‘We were always trying to push boundaries’: Jim Howick on breaking taboos, coping with life and the joy of dogsTom LamontJim Howick’s wicked sense of humour helped turn Horrible Histories, Ghosts and Sex Education into massive hits. Here, the actor and writer reveals how he’s always made it up as he went along
Jim Howick is sitting on a bench in Primrose Hill in London, drinking tea from a cardboard cup and minding his own business, when a dad on a bicycle zooms by on the asphalt path.
Can a guru heal himself? | Health, mind and body books
Health, mind and body booksCan a guru heal himself?When M Scott Peck wrote The Road Less Travelled 25 years ago, he brought the self-help book into our lives and taught us that all our problems were solvable. The book has been a bestseller ever since - but how has Peck's own life matched up? Edward Marriott finds him on a winding roadWhen someone tells you how to live your life, how do you respond?
Carmine De Sapio | US news
US newsObituaryCarmine De SapioThe last boss of New York's Tammany Hall Democratic machineCarmine De Sapio, who has died aged 95, was the last boss of Tammany Hall, the powerful Democratic party machine which had controlled politics in New York for the eight decades to 1934. He presided over a brief renaissance of Tammany's power in the 1950s, but within a decade he lost control of the state to Republicans, and his own Democratic district committee seat to reformers, before being convicted of bribery.
Dark times
BooksReviewJane Rogers revisits Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist, a novel she was first drawn to when she was living in a squatI first read Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist in 1987, two years after it was published. I thought it was a surprising book for Doris Lessing to have written: my sense of her territory was Africa, women, and a fascination with the exploration of inner worlds. There was always something expansive, even exotic, about her fiction.
Heritage: The cradle of English Christianity | Advertisement feature
The north-east's heritage is arguably the richest in the country; the region we see now has been in no small part shaped, moulded, pushed and pummelled by its history and its location.The birthplace of English Christianity, Holy Island, sits just off the Northumberland coast and attracts 21st Century pilgrims in their thousands determined to beat the tide (making the island inaccessible for 11 out of every 24 hours) to visit the home to St Cuthbert, whose remains now rest in Durham cathedral.
If I must die, let it bring hope: the power of poetry in the Palestinian struggle
A woman holds up a placard bearing a verse by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in Gaza last week, at a rally in Ramallah protesting against the Israel-Hamas war. Photograph: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty ImagesA woman holds up a placard bearing a verse by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in Gaza last week, at a rally in Ramallah protesting against the Israel-Hamas war. Photograph: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty ImagesIsrael-Gaza warThousands of dollars have been raised around the world as writers unite in support of civilians in Gaza
Notes from the break room: The Benefactor | Television
TV and radio blogTelevisionNotes from the break room: The BenefactorOur episode by episode reviews of Mad Men's second season continue with Don assuming the role of enforcer with shocking effectSpoiler warning: Don't read on if you haven't seen any of the first series of Mad Men, or the first three episodes of series two. Watch The Benefactor on iPlayer.
"A guy like that must know how to make a charming apology, or he'd be dead.
Ronnie Biggs: the Great Train Robber's funeral - in pictures | UK news
Ronnie Biggs: the Great Train Robber's funeral - in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Outriders from the Hells Angels and a brass band formed part of Ronnie Biggs's funeral cortege as friends and family gathered at Golders Green crematorium in north-west London to pay their last respects
Bridget Coaker
Fri 3 Jan 2014 14.16 EST A brass band heralds the arrival of Ronnie Biggs' coffin as it arrives at Golders Green crematorium.