With J.K. Rowling's first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, due to be released on Thursday, speculation about its content (and quality) are rife. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian on Saturday, the author of the Harry Potter series revealed that her latest book deals with council estates, the British...

During the first decades of the 20th Century, when domestic photography was being developed and more and more people travelled and met on trains, the public was introduced to new ideas of brevity and transience. The 'brief encounter' became one of the most popular fictional plots, and it's hard to...

In this age of austerity, the word 'arts' is often followed by the word 'funding', which is usually followed by the word 'cuts.' But this language of giving, of ploughing money back into culture, can be is misleading. By couching arts investment in the language of money, we can start...