A decade ago the residents of this Scottish outpost bought out their absentee landlords and took control of their own destiny. Their lives have been transformed. Jonathan Brown reports from Knoydart

Vivien Swan was an internationally acknowledged expert in the study of Roman pottery. Early retirement from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England allowed her the time to make a series of studies, particularly in northern Britain and on the Lower Danube, which revolutionised our understanding of the significance of ceramics in establishing ethnic identity and origins and in working out how military supply systems operated. This work established her international reputation.

Sparing a generation from poverty would cost a fraction of the bank bailout

Wedgwood survived many near-deaths by innovation in design and manufacturing

Researchers digging at the Cerro Patapo archeological site in northern Peru have discovered the ruins of an entire city, which may provide the "missing link" between two ancient cultures, investigators said yesterday.

It is right to try a variety of rapprochements between us and the Middle East, and to the political we might add cultural approaches. You never know; that might do the trick where hard diplomacy is always going to fail.

An amateur sculptor duped some of Britain's most respected auction houses into selling fake vases that he had made in his garden shed – thinking they were genuine antiques worth thousands of pounds.

The potter Robert Fournier was as well known for his many distinguished reference books as his inventive ceramics. Something of a rebel, he was a lifelong pacifist and atheist, and his decision to become a potter was, in part, a refusal to compete in what he saw as an increasingly consumer-led society.

The rigidity of Japanese society squeezes out the emotional life of this tale

The ceramicist Emma Bridgewater is the queen of quirky crockery. But is her rambling Norfolk home as charming as her bestselling designs? Sarah Harris drops in. Photographs by Nick Sinclair

Independent News & Media hopes to resurrect a deal to buy out minority shareholders in the Australian newspaper group APN News & Media next year after it abandoned a potential £1.5bn offer when talks with its private equity backers broke down.

Eight metalworkers whose works range from tea sets to hammered silver vases are in the running for the £30,000 Jerwood Applied Arts Prize.

Adam Hart-Davis's new series tramples all over the tweedy version of history