His true home was eternity, but he was still the inhabitant of a tangible, mundane city. Karl Miller Blake by Peter Ackroyd, Sinclair- Stevenson, pounds 20

An extract from the brilliant new biography of poet, artist and visionary William Blake

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Summer's here, and your thoughts turn to sultry nights of sensuous bliss. Except your room has been invaded by a fly: one of those critters that zooms around your light fixtures throwing massive shapes on the wall like some acid-raddled shadow-puppeteer, and buzzes like a cathedral-ful of incompetent cellists. Of all God's creatures, the humble fly is the one least likely to give even the most committed vegan an attack of conscience as he rolls up his newspaper in fury.

Art and science have long been seen as sworn enemies. But, argues Tom Sutcliffe, the age of the artist as Luddite is dead

THE FUTURE arrives faster these days, and in greater quantity. Someone once remarked that the trouble with history was that there was so much of it; now it is the future that is too much with us. You can hardly spit without hitting a think-tank, forecasting centre or policy institute predicting the impact of information technology and the new mobility of international capital. This is probably wise - better to be warned and, if necessary, armed against the day after tomorrow than to have it strike you sharply on the head - and it is not inevitably bad news. Last week Geoff Mulgan, of the Demos think-tank, could be seen on television and read in the Independent being cheery about the stresses caused by the rise of the global market. History has taught us, said Mr Mulgan, that the stress will produce great creativity, especially in the young.

From Mr David Boulton Sir: Peter Mullen ("Cupitt's arrows lie blunted by the reality of reasoned discussion", 31 December) assumes that theological "non-realism" and what he calls "Sea-of-Faithism" are one and the same. In fact, the Sea of Faith network embraces a broader philosophical and theological spectrum including but by no means confined to the Cupittian "non-realism" which so troubles Mr Mullen.

Alert readers will note something new at the top of the page on which this item appears today. The Independent has moved, from City Road to the 18th floor of 1 Canada Square, otherwise known as the Canary Wharf tower, England's tallest building.

THIS YEAR marks the 200th anniversary of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Blake's poetic philosophy manifests a lifelong opposition to dualism. Dualism for Blake was perpetrated by that 'mechanistic' frame of mind which is unable to see things in their God-given entirety. It splits a 'subject' from its 'object', whereas in heaven these two were meant to be one.

ALAS, poor ghosts] Driven out of adult literature by the sceptical, psychological age in which we live, they tend now to be relegated mainly to children's books. And even here they are often only a shadow of their former selves.

Tavener: Ikon of Light; Two Hymns to the Mother of God; Today the Virgin; The Tiger; The Lamb; Eonia - The Sixteen, members of the Duke Quartet / Harry Christophers (Collins Classics 14052)

LISZT: Piano Concertos 1 and 2.

THAT William Blake was self-taught 'terrified' T S Eliot. Here, alarmingly, was a major poet who was 'not compelled to acquire any other education in literature than that he wanted it'. Hence Blake's free way with tradition, as in the annotation to a crowded design for The Last Judgement:

ST AUGUSTINE's Day on 28 August reminds us not only of a great intellect from Christian antiquity but it draws our attention again to theological arguments that have never been far from the centre of controversy.