NATURE TURNING THE BOAT FOR HOME By Richard Mabey (Chatto £18.99, 262pp) As a young man working in publishing, Richard Mabey would use his lunch hour to go for a walk, observing kestrels wheeling overhead, sand martins burrowing in a sandbank and the profusion of plants such as Canadian fleabane and Indian balsam. Far from … Read more
MUST READS By Jane Shilling for the Daily Mail Published: 22:02 GMT, 2 January 2020 | Updated: 23:12 GMT, 2 January 2020 THE WISDOM OF WOLVES by Elli H Radinger (Michael Joseph £9.99) THE WISDOM OF WOLVES by Elli H Radinger (Michael Joseph £9.99) As a lawyer working in Frankfurt, Elli Radinger was beginning to … Read more
Why a bath is more dangerous than a bomb: The Power Of Bad explores negativity bias and the ‘Crisis Crisis’ – the never-ending series of overhyped threats leading to actions that leave everyone worse off Authors’ message is that we are all wired to react more strongly to bad events They explore the negativity … Read more
NATURE THE TULIP by Anna Pavord (Bloomsbury £40, 467 pp) Who doesn’t love tulips? Colourful, flamboyant, easy to grow and cheap as chips, they are the perfect plant to brighten up a spring garden. Yet these cheery flowers have an unexpectedly dark and complex history. The tulip has had ‘more adventures than any Hollywood scriptwriter … Read more
When Kent was the Klondike of coal: This intriguing slice of social history, filled with personal testimony from ex-miners and their families, is a well-written reminder Author Peter Williams explores the history industrial heartland the Kent Coalfield Miners arrived from all over Britain to work but weren’t greeted with enthusiasm The Kent Coalfield flourished through WWII but … Read more
DEBUTS By Fanny Blake for the Daily Mail Published: 22:03 GMT, 2 January 2020 | Updated: 22:03 GMT, 2 January 2020 THE UNFORGETTING by Rose Black (Orion £14.99) THE UNFORGETTING by Rose Black (Orion £14.99) It is 1851. Lily Bell dreams of a career as an actress on the London stage. When her stepfather introduces … Read more
YOUNG FICTION By Sally Morris for the Daily Mail Published: 22:03 GMT, 2 January 2020 | Updated: 22:03 GMT, 2 January 2020 THE KID WHO CAME FROM SPACE by Ross Welford (HarperCollins £6.99) THE KID WHO CAME FROM SPACE by Ross Welford (HarperCollins £6.99) When 12-year-old Tammy goes missing on Christmas Eve, her twin brother … Read more
PICTURE THIS By Gerry Fallon For The Daily Mail Published: 22:02 GMT, 2 January 2020 | Updated: 22:02 GMT, 2 January 2020 REEF LIFE: AN UNDERWATER MEMOIR by Callum Roberts with photographs by Alex Mustard (Profile £16.99) REEF LIFE: AN UNDERWATER MEMOIR by Callum Roberts with photographs by Alex Mustard (Profile £16.99) As a university … Read more
Little Women Cert: U, 2hrs 14mins Rating: My mother, a former actress, adored Little Women and … Read more
It’s been another insane year, as Britain’s prolonged collective Brexit dementia reduced us all to a quarrelling, squabbling, sneering rabble of self-righteous lunatics. Fortunately, the celebrity world has raced to our rescue by providing a particularly glorious 12 months of comical light relief in its usual cack-handed, hypocritical, self-aggrandising way – led by the world’s … Read more
Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special Christmas Day, BBC1 Rating: A Christmas Carol Sunday-Christmas Eve, BBC1 Rating: The Christmas special of Gavin & Stacey, which marked the return of the sitcom after a ten-year absence, carried the weight of all our seasonal TV expectations. (Actually, I can’t speak for you, only for myself, and perhaps you … Read more
These days Robson Green finds himself spending a lot of time looking upwards. The star of ITV drama Grantchester, the adventurous host of Extreme Fishing and the man who once crooned on stage for Princess Diana is not looking for divine inspiration. Rather, he is on his guard against advancing weather systems. ‘I’m obsessed,’ he … Read more
The Roborock S6 is exactly what robot vacuum cleaners should have been all along By Rob Waugh Event for The Mail on Sunday Published: 22:02 GMT, 28 December 2019 | Updated: 01:38 GMT, 29 December 2019 Roborock S6 £570, amazon.co.uk A couple of years ago I was having a light, non-committal chat about the possibility … Read more