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Why genius is meaningless without society

Genius, and the artistic creativity stemming from it, is by nature inexplicable and incapable of being reduced to rules and techniques. In 1789 one of Mozart’s contemporaries noted in his Piano Method that ‘some musical effects cannot be described; they must be heard’.

By Professor Colin Lawson | Battle of Ideas, Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 19 October 2010 at 6:00 am

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Bribes for Lives – Sterilising Drug Addicts

She has been described as a ‘Nazi’ and sparked anger from religous and pro-life groups across the UK. Barbara Harris is an American woman on a mission, to offer money to drug addicts in return for “longterm birth control” (a smushy, inaccurate term; she means sterilisation) – so, in effect, bribing them to have their [...]

By Catherine | Notebook | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 8:06 pm

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Those eggs aren’t made of gold

Much of the extraordinary profitability of British banks over the past decade was a “mirage”. Those were paper profits created by the banks running down their capital and hiding risk. And it was a strategy that was always going to blow up, wiping away the profits of previous years.

By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 7:26 pm

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The Planets – an HD Odyssey: where music meets space missions

The Barbican kicked off their autumn classical music season with an event that showed how our solar system can inspire, in both artistic vision and scientific endeavour.

By Holly Williams | Arts | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 6:48 pm

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The curious case of Andy Murray

“Why do you never smile?” the cheerful Chinese presenter asked Andy Murray, moments after the Scot had beaten Roger Federer for the eighth time to lift his second title of the year at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

By Alexandra Willis | Sport | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 5:35 pm

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Did Archimedes set fire to a Roman fleet using only mirrors and the rays of the sun?

Barack Obama is to ask number 400.5 in my series of Questions to Which the Answer is No next month on the Discovery Channel:

President Obama will be featured in the December 8 MYTHBUSTERS episode, Archimedes Solar Ray, during which he challenges hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to revisit an ancient and somewhat controversial myth:

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 4:25 pm

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Torres’ lack of form is hard to explain

Yesterday saw another below par performance from Fernando Torres as Liverpool were comprehensively outplayed by Everton in the Merseyside derby.

Debate continues to rage about why he’s become a shadow of the player who quite rightly was regarded as among the best in the world.

By Simon Rice | Sport | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 4:22 pm

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The intellectual foundations of the Tea Party – a stunning essay

Not by me, obviously.

This essay in last week’s New Yorker by Sean Wilentz is one of the finest essays on American politics I have ever read.

By Amol Rajan | Eagle Eye | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 3:06 pm

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Spectre scary Halloween at Muncaster

Investigating the many ghosts of Cumbria’s Muncaster Castle.

By Alan Cleaver | Notebook | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 3:05 pm

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End of the “pinned against the wall” myth

Chris Ames did not agree with the use of military force in Iraq, but I am consistently impressed by his fairmindedness and the thoroughness with which he compiles information on the British decision to join the US-led invasion at his Iraq Inquiry Digest.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 18 October 2010 at 2:25 pm