And so to Hampton Court to see the The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned, an exhibition of portraits of Charles II’s principal mistresses, including Nell Gwyn and Barbara Villiers, brought together for the first time, writes Julia Stephenson.

‘One of the more heart-warming stories to zoom around the Internet lately involves a young man, his dying grandmother, and a bowl of clam chowder from Panera Bread.

This beautiful film follows young street boys and girls in Kabul where two Australian aid workers have started a skateboarding school. 

Daphne Koller started with a simple idea: make the world’s best university courses available, online, free to anyone who wants to take them.

Like many townies, I often fantasise about quitting my urban eyrie for the bucolic delights of the countryside, writes Julia Stephenson.

Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present and argues that, despite the wars of the 21st Century, we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence.