Is it OK if someone wants to live for years on a bench? (BBC News Online)
In 2017, freelance writer Tom de Castella noticed an elderly woman and her son living on a bench in south London. He discovered they had already been there for two years… which was puzzling. Why hadn't anyone done anything to help them? Why did everyone accept it as normal? The more he investigated, the stranger it seemed. A large bulky object wrapped in a bright blue tarpaulin. It is sitting in the middle of the pavement. It could be an old piano, maintenance equipment, a delivery waiting to be unpacked. But then the tarpaulin starts to move, an arm appears
Sympathy for the devil (Prospect)
Heidi Holland's biography of Robert Mugabe does something deeply unsettling - it makes one feel the dictator's pain.
Confessions of an Uber driver (The Times)
In a few hours I will feel elated. Then despairing. But at 11am, as I pull out of my south London street in a Toyota Auris estate, I am trying to feel calm. It’s a new career. I’m about to start my first shift as an Uber driver. You don’t join Uber for a laugh, or even a feature in a Saturday magazine. It has taken me six months and £550 in admin costs to get here. There are criminal record checks, medicals, training in how to navigate using the London A-Z – there’s no GPS in sight during training.
Rokeby Venus: The painting that shocked a suffragette (BBC news online)
It's the last word in sensual languor. And one of the most famous bottoms of all time.
Roald Dahl and the darkness within (BBC News online)
There's a perception that children's literature involves endless picnics where the strawberry jam and lashings of ginger beer never run out.
The eyes of the world fall on Burton on Trent (Guardian)
Ever since its non-league football team was drawn against Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup back in December, this sleepy town where nothing ever happens has been temporarily roused. And it all comes down to identity.
Roland TR-808: the drum machine that refused to die (BBC News online)
The Roland TR-808 flopped commercially. So how did this drum machine become a defining sound in dance music, pop and rock?
David Adjaye brought to brink of insolvency (Building Design)
Architect shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2006 has been forced to turn to insolvency experts after his practice came close to financial collapse. Despite winning a leading role to design the National Museum of African American History & Culture earlier this year Adjaye Associates has been hit by shelved projects around the world.
Badger of honour (BBC news online)
Why do people have such a strong attachment to this scarcely-seen creature?
Le pop francais (BBC news online)
The launch today of French Radio London, the capital's first Gallic music station, may not be to everyone's taste.