Cover Stories: Screaming Lord Sutch, time for debate, Charles Bukowski

While Anne Perkins puts the finishing touches to her biography of Barbara Castle, The Red Queen, and Andrew Adonis begins writing up his life of the late Roy Jenkins, the contribution of another would-be leader is not being ignored. Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Monster Raving Loony Party, whose candidates have enlivened many an election, will be the subject of a book by Graham Sharpe, the William Hill bookie who sets odds on the Booker.

* The bomb, Vietnam and much besides brought Sixties students on to the streets. These days, it seems, apathy rules. So a new Orange initiative merits applause: a partnership with Index on Censorship designed to stimulate debate on campuses. Among events scheduled are debates featuring Tariq Ali (on patriotism, at Oxford on 6 February) and Kate Adie (on war reporting, at Warwick on 19 February). Info at www.orange.com or phone 0781 6332054.

* One of the last of the Beats, Charles Bukowski has earned his reputation posthumously. Through his life, he did menial jobs, which boosted the income from European editions of his work (his books have sold more than three million in Germany alone) and paid for his drinking habit. Now, Virgin is reissuing three autobiographical novels, Post Office, Women and Factotum, all set in working-class LA and portraying the life of the underdog.