Some may sniff about "gentrification" but nothing of Granville Arcade's old spirit has been lost

Two years ago, Granville Arcade, in the far reaches of Brixton market, was a ghost town.

Late for work this morning? Pressed snooze once too often? Not me. I was late because I was transfixed by the TV. Again.

The reason that war is such a fascinating subject for writers is because it's a revealer. Put a bunch of people in an adrenaline-fuelled, life-or-death situation and their fundamental behaviours are exposed, the scrim is taken away and the motivations behind each personality come out to play. But sometimes you don't need a foxhole to expose one's true nature. Sometimes all it takes is a reclaimed barn-wood kitchen.

I wrote yesterday about a focus group exercise in which the participants are invited to give i human characteristsics, and this challenge has been taken up by some of our readers.

Spring is in the air in this impressive Canadian city, where the accent is French, the cuisine sophisticated and the cycling superb.

"My sophomore year in high school, I killed a woman", confesses one narrator; "One year a kid brought a gun to school and shot his ex-girlfriend at brunch because she had a new boyfriend", reveals another.

I know that I'm a few days early here, but last week I gave you recipes for an alternative Christmas lunch, so this week I want to look slightly ahead to a delicious brunch for Boxing Day or New Year's Day.

Prince Andrew used a private audience with a group of British businessmen to offer his "astonishingly candid" thoughts on the shortcomings of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), journalists and France, according to leaked diplomatic dispatches.