Mary Grierson: Floral artist celebrated as one of the most distinguished in her field
Thursday 01 March 2012
In 1960 a woman applied for the post of exhibitions officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. She didn't get the job, but was able to show her interviewers her portfolio of flower paintings, and was engaged instead as an artist in the herbarium. This was Mary Grierson, soon to become recognised as one of the world's most distinguished botanical artists.
Mohawk to be first Native American saint
Sunday 19 February 2012
Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th-century Mohawk Indian woman who died aged 24, after professing her vows of virginity, is to be the first Native American saint. She is among seven canonisations set for October, the Vatican said yesterday.
Cyber Culture: Why hackers are being asked to come and have a go, if they think they're smart enough
Thursday 09 February 2012
Security personnel tend not to challenge the public to sneak unnoticed into buildings they're guarding, preferring to give the impression that the entrances are impregnable and they themselves are invincible. But the "keep out or else" approach doesn't work online, where cyber attacks are rampant and the task of thwarting them is too colossal for stretched IT departments.
The Descendants (15)
Friday 27 January 2012
Starring: George Clooney, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Amara Miller
James Corrigan: Matt Every refuses to play bawl with hypocrites
Monday 16 January 2012
The Way I See It
2012: Good year/Bad year
Sunday 01 January 2012
Not since the turn of the millennium has a single year promised so much: the Olympics, Euro 2012, a US election, an extra day off, and oh, the end of the world. Here, we assess the 12 winners and losers, and ask what the year holds... apart from Armageddon
Last night's viewing - Enlightened, Sky Atlantic; After Life: the Strange Science of Decay, BBC4
Wednesday 07 December 2011
Enlightened, an HBO drama about a midlife crisis, began with the rich but slightly shameful pleasure of someone else's nervous breakdown. Amy, a mid-ranking executive at an American conglomerate, has reacted badly to the discovery that she's been sidelined in a jobs shuffle, her chagrin increased by the fact that she's been having an office affair with the shuffler. We found her first hunched in the lavatory, a mud-slide of mascara running down her face. Things escalated, despite the pleading intervention of her PA. She shrieked at her "back-stabbing" colleagues and ended by prising apart the elevator doors as her lover and boss attempted a getaway with a group of startled-looking clients. Given the mood of the moment, it's hard to believe that her cathartic explosion of rage wouldn't stir a sympathetic echo in quite a few viewers' hearts. She might have burnt her boats but the blaze is spectacular, and she's said nothing that isn't true.
Surf war: boys from Brazil vs Hawaii's angry young locals
Friday 25 November 2011
You only have to watch Edison de Paula carve his way across one of the spectacular waves that wallop Oahu's shore to realise surfing isn't a laid-back sport. When the swells hit 30 feet, one wrong move can send you to a watery grave. At Pipeline, a break famous for its perfect "tubes," there have been 70 deaths since the 1960s. At nearby Sunset Beach, a man went missing, presumed dead, only last week.
Boys from Brazil stir up a surf war
Friday 25 November 2011
Tensions between Hawaiian surfers and energetic newcomers from South America have reached boiling point on Oahu's famous beaches
'The future belongs to Asia,' says Hillary Clinton
Saturday 12 November 2011
Secretary of State seeks to woo Pacific Rim finance ministers, saying US is turning back on ailing EU
Paradise lost for Disney's new resort
Thursday 18 August 2011
Disney has fired executives at its $850m Hawaiian mini-theme park and suspended sales of timeshares
Former conjoined twins turn 10
Monday 08 August 2011
Twin sisters who were born conjoined but defied the odds to survive separation surgery have celebrated their tenth birthdays.
Volcanic lava scorches park
Friday 05 August 2011
Miles of lava have spread across a national park in Hawaii after the Kilauea volcano erupted.








