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GCSEs are a pointless waste of time

A few facts. Last year almost 70% of 16 year olds achieved at least 5 GCSE passes with grades A*-C. ...

Asylum seekers: When the questions tell us so much more than the answers

For the last four years I've been paying my karmic dues (I would say "contributing to the big societ...

Thanks to The Sun, for enriching each of our lives

Those at the super-soaraway Sun are, yet again, making outlandish claims that they’ve changed the wo...

Howard Jacobson: Asking for pornography that's life-affirming is like asking for tragedy with a happy ending

Porn that’s good to us, enhancing rather than degrading, by definition ceases to be porn

Howard Jacobson: Nothing is beyond a man who will take his wife on a date to a restaurant like Oslo Court

Maybe our old view of the PM as out of touch is no longer safe. I am seeing him in a new light

Howard Jacobson: Thrillers always sell you a pup. As with sex, the delivery never lives up to the promise

Homeland: so well-made, well-acted, but in the end, at the mercy of the unsubtlety of its form

Howard Jacobson: Men – once you run out of fingers to count your sexual conquests, it's time to stop

What happens in the dark is not for gossiping or bragging about in the light

Howard Jacobson: A man's face, like a book's cover, can be enough

Was it John Terry’s reputation that caused him to be sent off? My suspicion is that it was his expression

Howard Jacobson: Old age is coming, but where are my carers?

Beneath the show of senility, I remain the palpitating boy who never wanted a pension

Howard Jacobson: I've played only once, but I'm a lifelong cricketer

What’s charming about cricket’s fraternity is it has a keen sense of the ridiculous and excludes no one

Howard Jacobson: Don't get too close to your enemy's enemy

I think I’d go for Galloway – briefly – if I were a woman. Strong, suave, tanned to within an inch of his life

Howard Jacobson: When did we stop seeing modesty as a virtue?

If there’s one thing a parvenu has to do – otherwise what’s he risen from nowhere to somewhere for? – it’s boast

Howard Jacobson: Tolerance shouldn't stop us challenging hatred

Baroness Tonge’s sympathy for the Palestinian cause is considered to cancel out the sin of antipathy to others

Howard Jacobson: Deliver me from these Kate Middleton clones

This being London Fashion Week, unless last week was London Fashion Week, we attend with respect to the words of Vivienne Westwood.

Howard Jacobson: Beckham's package leaves a lot to be desired

The subject of this week's dissertation is the banality of beauty once it is harnessed to the needs of commerce. Or, put another way, David Beckham's dick.

Howard Jacobson: Dickens is proof that humour improves with age

In total agreement with Terence Blacker's remarks earlier this week in these pages about "a new fear of seriousness" in our culture leading to an overabundance of feeble, inappropriate and half-hearted "humour".

Howard Jacobson: A question neither I – nor anyone – could answer

It was impossible not to think you were never more than the thickness of one person’s skin away from torment

Howard Jacobson: A misleading idea of beauty and desire

Regarding the iconography of the Page 3 girl, I am – just in case there was ever any doubt about it – entirely of the party of those who find such sexual objectification demeaning. And not only to women. It demeans men to suppose that's what they want to look at. And the truth is – no matter that this is to give away a closely guarded secret – they don't.

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Day In a Page

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

Being a teenager is hard enough – for those with hearing loss, it can be even more complicated
A right royal trip down the river

A right royal trip down the river

A new exhibition celebrates the glory days of London's mighty Thames
The 10 Best lawn mowers

The 10 Best lawn mowers

From petrol-fuelled to self-propelled
Every second counts

Why does life appear to speed up as we get older?

Matilda Battersby finds out how the clock plays tricks with our minds
Couture on the Croisette: Fashion hits

Couture on the Croisette

The best outfits from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Child of the revolution: the Burmese family that democracy brought back together

Home of the free

The Burmese family that democracy brought back together
Cannes review: Canine accolade and Hitler's return are high spots amid the gloom

Cannes review

Frocks, canine accolade and Hitler's return
Robert Fisk: The going price of getting away with murder... would $33m be enough?

The going price of getting away with murder

Robert Fisk: The long view
Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Andy McSmith meets Dennis Skinner
Patrick Cockburn: I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria

Patrick Cockburn

I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria
Hardeep Singh Kohli: For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love

Hardeep Singh Kohli

For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love
Christian Louboutin: 'I don't think comfort equals happiness'

Christian Louboutin interview

'I don't think comfort equals happiness'
Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Hollywood's home to the A-list celebrates 100 years of discreet luxury
Rupert Cornwell: Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky
The secret life of the red carpet

The secret life of the red carpet

As Cannes reaches its climax with the Palme d'Or and the celebrities gather in London for the Baftas tonight, Kate Youde and Jack Dean investigate the real star of the show