The phenomenon was first recognised as a pattern during the Second World War

One study claiming middle-class children are more obese than working-class peers has upset expectations. But it's those expectations that need a close, hard look

The families of patients who died after receiving substandard care at Stafford Hospital have demanded that senior managers – including the current head of the NHS – be held responsible for the deaths of their loved ones.

A Treasury minister has warned the Conservative Party not to divide the British people into “shirkers and strivers” as it defends the Government’s squeeze on the welfare budget.

In football you see some of the worst aspects of the rapacious capitalism that has driven people on to the streets in protest around the world

Will the Marmite test (love or loathe) apply in the UK to this extremely quirky novel? Over 100,000 Norwegians have chosen the first option and made the book a barnstorming success. Erlend Loe is a bestselling novelist in Norway, celebrated for his sardonic and unsparing take on modern society. His satirical point-of-view is the starting point for this strange and humorous book. Although some of the targets are less à propos in 2013 (the book has taken eight years to reach English readers, in a translation by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw), there are still some cogent points made. If, that is, you can accept the whimsy of a man conversing with a baby moose.

Conditions could hardly be more inimical to the brilliance that identified Simonsig as the outstanding novice hurdler of last season when he turns his attention to fences at Ascot this afternoon.

Racism, royalty, and all that jazz … take it away Stephen!

Will the Marmite test (i.e. love or loathe) apply in the UK to this extremely quirky novel? Apparently over 100,000 Norwegians have chosen the first option and have made the book a barnstorming success.

Our writer was bombarded with responses after writing a provocative piece on her own appearance. Here she explores the difference between religious and aesthetic identities

A former City lawyer who claims he made a mess of his life because he was sexually abused at a Jesuit-run school today won £54,923 damages.

Although you can have a ghost story set pretty much anywhere if the tension is palpable and the ending is unnerving, there are certain elements that tend to crop up again and again. Dusty mansions; orphaned and/or odd children; graveyards; dolls or dolls' houses: a number of classic M R James stories elegantly combine some or all of these to horribly, wonderfully chilling effect.

Diablo Cody's scabrous, jet-black comedy is very nearly a sensational American satire.