The world is in the grip of a commodity price revolution. Tom Bawden explains why scarce resources are going through the roof

The last instalment of Kate Grenville's trilogy of colonial Australia is both a standalone story and an end to the unfinished saga of the Thornhill family. It offers two discrete reading experiences: those who have read the first in the series, The Secret River, will understand, early on, that this story is one of colonial crime, guilt, and possible atonement. Those who have not will only stop seeing it as a thwarted love story towards the end.

Cahal Milmo on the man with 'no business acumen' who has built an enviable lifestyle

Damien Hirst may lose his record for selling the most expensive piece of art ever – and not to another enfant terrible of the art world either, but to a Los Angeles mural painter who happened upon the Facebook offices in 2005.

Your editorial position on the de-knighted Fred is absurd (leading article, 1 February). So it sends out a signal that Britain is anti-business and anti-wealth, does it? Do keep a sense of proportion.

Theatre: I try to go to the theatre as much as possible. I saw 'The Ladykillers' at London's Gielgud Theatre, which was hilarious. The run has been extended because it has been so popular. It was some of the best stage acting I have seen, with a very clever set.

It might be six months before we know who has emerged victorious from the so-called Battle of the Oligarchs, but the biggest private litigation in English legal history has already produced a lengthy list of winners.

As the subject for a book, surely, the Titanic is well and truly sunk. An ocean of print has spilled over the great maritime disaster and in its centenary year, a further flood must be impending. Can there be anything more to say? The answer, as Richard Davenport-Hines shows in this rich, incisive and poignant study, is a resounding yes. He treats the doomed liner as a container ship, its separate compartments holding a cross-section of European and American society at a time when inequalities had never been more flagrant. The wealthiest man on board was Colonel Jack Astor, who was carrying $4,000 in sodden notes when his body was found; among the poorest was a 19-year-old Greek farm worker called Vassilios Katavelas, who had ten cents and a train ticket to Milwaukee.

Sir David Attenborough has called on big businesses to help protect the natural world from the rapidly expanding human population.

The luxury goods brand Burberry has revealed a storming 22 per cent rise in third-quarter sales, despite the economic storm clouds.

The luxury goods brand Burberry has revealed a storming 22 per cent rise in third-quarter sales, despite the economic storm clouds.

Expensive watches and jewellery such as the $20,000 (£13,000) Altiplano watch have helped the