

All in the mind
LARA WHITMORE DISCUSSES THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY WITH BARONESS SUSAN GREENFIELD In previous interviews you’ve described your younger self as a ‘maverick’. Could you explain why you thought this, and whether being one helped you in later life? The maverick I think was first because my father was Jewish and although that may not sound so marvellous in the multi-cultural society we live in now, I was born in 1950 so at that time it was far less usual to have people


Where there's a Will
ON THE 400th ANNIVERSARY OF SHAKESPEARE’S DEATH LOTTIE J. DISPELS THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING HIS ‘SECOND BEST BED’ This year marks the 400th anniversary of playwright William Shakespeare’s death on 23rd April 1616. Although the exact cause remains a mystery, he began to make a will in January 1616, which suggests he was aware of his imminent demise. When his will was finally signed on 25th March, in the presence of his attorney, Francis Collins of Warwick, the shaky handwrit


You are all mime
IS THE DESIRE TO EXPRESS OURSELVES KILLING INDIVIDUALITY? Over the past year or two we (in the West) have at times been exposed to some of the shocking global crises that we rarely experience first-hand in the safety of our cocoons of self-dissatisfaction. What seems to be at the heart of these issues is a recurring contrast of worlds. One such case is the enduring migrant crisis. Indeed, for many of the helpless victims in the unimaginable situation of fleeing conflict, phys


An F for feminism?
WHY WE STILL JUMP TO THE SAME OLD CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WOMEN’S ROLE IN SOCIETY? My mum likes to tell people a story, which goes like this: A boy and his father are in a car crash. The father dies but the boy is rushed to hospital and goes into surgery. The surgeon looks down and cries, ‘My son!’ After my mum finishes the story, her audience, of whatever sex, race or age, is always confused. Of course, the surgeon is the boy’s mother. But when I tell the same story to my peers an


Going Clean?
CAN REALLY EAT OUR WAY TO THE PERFECT LIFESTYLE? ‘Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t class as food.’ Ella Woodward, 23, can forever hold that statement against her name. It’s ninth on the list of ‘Mae Deli Philosophies’, the Ten Commandments for all those who aspire to look and live like Ella. She’s gorgeous, stick-thin, has a spaniel, a fiancé and 400,000 followers on Instagram. After developing Postural Tachycardia Syndrome in 2011, she made it her mission t