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Country diary: Newhall Point
The ebbing tide had laid bare the extensive mudflats of the outer Cromarty Firth. These rich feeding areas for wildfowl and waders stretched eastwards from my vantage point to the two narrow twin...
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Letters: We don't slink away from south London
Peter Preston (The capital's melting pot, 9 January) provides an interesting picture of life in south London today. It's a picture which I recognise as Bishop of Southwark. But I simply do not...
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Letters: Franchises on track
I'd contest Polly Toynbee's use of "near-cartel" to describe the rail industry (Ed Miliband has been proven right: fairness does matter, 10 January). Competition does exist on the railways. When...
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Letters: Trains, trees and Bechstein's bat
In France and Germany high-speed rail lines sweep through the landscape with pride, on elegant bridges and soaring viaducts, in the same way as did the railways of the Victorian age built by Brunel and...
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A Twitter addict, I had to detox from modern technology | Jenni Russell
A week without phone or computer restored a sense of calm shattered by Twitter's information avalancheI went to see a play recently, set in the early 20th century, where a man sat in his office with...
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Letters: Ghostly weather
At the end of his film column of 6 January, David Thomson says that it "seems" that it will be his last for the Guardian. I can't think of anyone who, over the years, has enhanced my enjoyment of...
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Alistair Darling and Charles Kennedy lined up for Scottish pro-union drive
Labour and Liberal Democrats hope David Cameron will take lower profile as main parties plan focus on economyAlistair Darling, Charles Kennedy and the former Tory leader in Scotland, Annabel Goldie,...
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Superdry, Sainsbury's and Greggs triumph in Christmas retail battle
• Under-pressure fashion chain's sales up 9%• Third-largest supermarket now holds 16.7% of market• Baker sells 7.7m mince pies and records stellar growthSainsbury's, SuperGroup and Greggs emerged as...
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Hands off British film, Mr Cameron | Peter Bradshaw
It is absurd to imply, as David Cameron has, that hearty commercial films are starved of cash by arthouse conspiratorsThey say that in politics, if you're in a hole, you should stop digging. And yet...
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Fear and Lothian – the Scottish independence questions start | Simon...
What the Scots hate are posh, arrogant, public school-educated Englishmen who know what's best. Let's put George Osborne in chargeThe first prime minister's questions of 2012, and the main topic was...
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Iranian nuclear chemist killed by motorbike assassins
Tensions escalate with US and Israel as Tehran accuses the Mossad in fifth murder of scientistsA chemist working at Iran's main uranium enrichment plant was killed on Wednesday when attackers on a...
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Syria attacks: 'If the regime wanted to prove Homs was safe, it failed ...'
French journalist among dead after convoy is attacked on official trip to war-hit cityIt was a trip Syria's ministry of information had gone to some lengths to arrange: taking foreign journalists to...
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Alex Salmond: a canny political operator, but not infallible
The SNP leader is locked in battle with Westminster, the very place he loves and where he developed his lust for debateIt was the kind of superlative to which Alex Salmond has become accustomed. From...
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Alex Salmond does not make Scottish independence inexorable | Martin Kettle
The Scottish Nationalist party leader wants a referendum deal – because without it the SNP is more likely to loseBritish politics, so centred in the Westminster hothouse, has suddenly become a tale of...
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Michelle Obama rejects claims of backroom conflict at White House
First lady rebuts 'angry black woman' allegations in new book as election campaign gains momentumShe is a brooding, "unrecognised force" in the White House, a new book claims; in frequent conflict with...
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Britain's film industry: closing credits | Editorial
The purpose of the national film industry needs to be definedThe purposes served by a national film industry are a happy perennial of public debate. On Wednesday, the prime minister indicated – to no...
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Pakistan: a coup by other means | Editorial
Tensions between the army and Pakistan's civilian government have boiled over into open conflictMessages were delivered in Islamabad on Wednesday. Through a megaphone. Minutes after the prime minister...
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Weatherwatch: Trade traffic in Arctic waterways is increasing
As Arctic ice gets thinner, you could expect that icebreakers would become less important. However, the volume of traffic in Arctic waterways is now increasing, and with it the demand for ships that...
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In praise of… Matilda
Roald Dahl's Matilda, a rare leading female in his books, has proved how brains and heart can win the daySome Roald Dahl protagonists are grotesque – think The Twits – and so a sure-fire winner with...
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Hugh Muir's diary
They dance, they prance. Occasionally they kill someone. UK gangs as described by lawman Bill• In a different world, perhaps an ideal world, Bill Bratton would be the main man at Scotland Yard. Big...
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