Christina Patterson on The Independent

Protecting our children: Shaun with one of his eight children

Christina Patterson: A second chance for a bad parent can mean a life sentence for a child

11 February 2012 12:00 AM

It's not just the shit.

Christina Patterson: Abu Qatada's freedom is the price we must pay for ours

08 February 2012 12:00 AM

Most people don't seem happy that a man who called for mass murder might soon be free

Call to prayer: Muslim pilgrims at the Grand mosque in Mecca

Christina Patterson: Whether or not you have faith, the Hajj is one journey we all need to understand

04 February 2012 12:00 AM

You don't have to go round it seven times, but you almost feel you should. You almost feel, when you go into what used to be the reading room at the British Museum, where Marx, and Kipling, and Orwell used to work, and hear the wailing of a human voice that millions hear as a call to prayer, as if you should swap your jeans for a tunic. You almost feel you should shave your head. You almost feel like shouting "Allahu Akbar".

Christina Patterson: It's time to ditch the dumbing down and start the wising up

01 February 2012 12:00 AM

Once you could say it was better to overestimate the public's mentality than underestimate it

Jean-Claude Mas of PIP was arrested in France this week

Christina Patterson: We don't want your apologies, or your remorse - unless they're from the heart

28 January 2012 12:00 AM

When I first touched a silicone implant, I felt sick. It felt squashy, but not in the way a breast feels squashy. It felt squashy in the way that something like, say, a waterbed, feels squashy.

Christina Patterson: It's looking grim - unless, like Cameron, your talent is PR

25 January 2012 12:00 AM

They work in factories or construction or in shops and you'd have thought they'd be getting angry

Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo are captivating in The Artist

Christina Patterson: The Artist is a reminder of some of the things we've lost

21 January 2012 12:00 AM

On Saturday night, in a cinema in Dalston, the audience clapped. They may or may not have clapped after the event that took place next, which was a "happening", involving live, human beings, and which sounded to me as weird as the outfits of the trilby-headed hipsters I had to squeeze past. But what they clapped when I was there wasn't human, and it wasn't alive. What they clapped was a film that had just finished called The Artist.

Christina Patterson: Let's turn this party in the park into something that will last

18 January 2012 12:00 AM

It would be quite hard for her jubilee not to be overshadowed by a party now costing £9bn

Where's her knight in shining armour? Madonna's W.E. premiere

Christina Patterson: Madonna's got a long wait for her knight in shining armour

14 January 2012 12:00 AM

She's one of the most powerful women in the world. She is, in fact, at least according to Time, which is very keen on lists, one of the 25 most powerful women of the last century. She looks a million dollars, and is worth several hundred million more. But there's one thing Madonna's millions can't buy her. Yup, you've guessed it: love.