84 m. ago A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries review – comfortably dumb?

From Shakespeare’s fools to Donald Trump, this exhilarating read considers stupidity in its many formsStupidity, no question, can be just as rich and subtle as its opposite. Three and a half decades on, I still sometimes meditate on what a school friend of mine said in a here’s-a-profound-thought tone of voice: “I’d rather be stupid than happy”.In this clever book, Stuart Jeffries starts out at a double disadvantage, though. First: he has an excellently snappy title but it’s open to question whether stupidity can be said to have a history in any meaningful sense. The quality of stupidity is just, sort of, there; and there’s lots of it. Could you write a history of happiness, or bad luck, or knees? You’d be on firmer ground, as he recognises, historicising the concept of stupidity: a short history, in other words, of “stupidity” – how successive societies and thinkers have defined and responded to reason’s derr-brained secret sharer. As an intellectual historian w...

Politics

15 h. ago Actress best known for her work with Reese Witherspoon and Ben Stiller is seen running errands... can you guess who?

The star is as known for her work in front of the camera as she is her voiceover work as she has done voicework for Disney smash Coco in addition to numerous cartoons,and video games.

Politics

16 h. ago Voices: Rachel Reeves risks becoming the ‘Chino Chancellor’ – chancellor in name only

By hiring Treasury second-in-command Darren Jones to work with him in No 10, with a new high-powered team of economic aides, Keir Starmer has effectively downgraded his chancellor, says Simon Walters

Events

16 h. ago NADINE DORRIES: I've met Camilla. The way she's got even with her train groper is proof she leads by example

Yesterday, we learned that as a schoolgirl of 16 or 17, our future Queen was the victim of sexual assault while travelling alone on a train.

Politics

17 h. ago Dwayne Johnson, 53, stuns fans with 'much slimmer' frame and 'loss of muscle mass' while promoting The Smashing Machine

Dwayne Johnson has stunned fans with his 'much slimmer' frame, after unveiling a new look during the Venice Film Festival. 

Politics

18 h. ago Voices: Rachel Reeves risks becoming the ‘Cino’ Chancellor – chancellor in name only

By hiring Treasury second-in-command Darren Jones to work with him in No 10 – and with a new high-powered team of economic aides – Keir Starmer has effectively downgraded his chancellor, says Simon Walters

Events

19 h. ago Voices: Yvette Cooper’s plans to fix the asylum system won’t work

After a summer of spiralling migrant numbers and protests outside asylum hotels, the home secretary has returned to the Commons with tougher new restrictions – but Labour looks like it’s playing catch-up to Reform, says Emily Sheffield

Events

19 h. ago Camilla told Boris Johnson she was ‘attacked’ by man on train according to new book

According to an extract, the author, former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low, spoke to Mr Johnson's former communications director Guto Harri

Politics

19 h. ago Family and police voice fears for missing Daniel Wilson as 63

63-year-old Daniel Wilson has been missing from the Dublin area since Sunday, August 31, with it currently not known what he was wearing when he was last seen

Events

20 h. ago Voices: Yvette Cooper’s raft of ideas to fix the asylum system don’t hold water

After a summer of spiralling migrant numbers and protests outside asylum hotels, the home secretary has returned to the Commons with tougher new restrictions – but Labour looks like it’s playing catch-up to Reform, says Emily Sheffield

Events

21 h. ago Kim Novak’s Vertigo review – the dizzying demands on Hitchcock’s leading lady

Venice film festivalAn intensely personal interview of the 92-year-old Hollywood star delivers showstopping moments for fans of the golden age of moviesAt 92 years old, Hollywood movie star Kim Novak – legendary of course for her doppelganger starring role in Hitchcock’s Vertigo – is a vivid and, in fact, yearningly romantic and demanding presence in this gallant, cinephile documentary-interview filmed by director and Novak superfan Alexandre O Philippe. She is one of the very few golden age stars still with us, and maybe the title of this film is a playful pun: at the very apex of Hollywood history, perhaps Novak feels dizzy looking down from her mythic height.Philippe himself is more than qualified for this kind of intensely personal exegesis, having in the past made intriguing films about David Lynch’s debt to The Wizard of Oz and about the Psycho shower scene. With a touch of mischief and misdirection, he begins his film by simply playing a voice note that Novak has sent him, in...

Events

21 h. ago Queen Camilla fought off sexual assault as teen in train to London using heels, new book reveals

Queen Camilla fought off sexual assault as teen in train to London using heels, new book reveals  Mint

Politics

22 h. ago Queen Camilla fought off indecent assault on train by hitting attacker with her shoe, book claims

A new book claims Camilla did “what my mother taught me” and took off her shoe to fend off the man when she was a teenager.

Events

22 h. ago Voices: How did we ever doubt that the Queen was a Remainer at heart?

The revelation that Elizabeth II wanted the United Kingdom to stay in the European Union – despite a particularly lurid tabloid headline during the Brexit referendum campaign to the contrary – will come as little surprise to those who knew Her Majesty, says Harry Mount

Politics

22 h. ago Voices: I’m with Camilla – sometimes you might just have to ‘whack a groper in the goolies’

As a new book reveals that the Queen once fought off a would-be attacker on London Underground, Victoria Richards says that sometimes, putting your own safety first is all that matters

Politics

22 h. ago Camilla fought off indecent assault attacker with her shoe, book reveals

The Queen has never spoken publicly about the attack, preferring to focus on survivors of domestic violence and sexual assaults she supports.

Events

23 h. ago Boris tried to meet Queen when he had Covid – the most explosive claims in new royal book

Claims the late Queen was a remainer and was more outspoken than expected have surfaced in Power And The Palace

Politics

24 h. ago Queen Camilla showed her mettle as a teenager when she beat back a groper with her shoe

A new book on the UK royal family says Queen Camilla beat off an indecent attack when she was a teenager by taking off her shoe and bashing the assailant in the groin

Politics

27 h. ago How Queen Camilla's 'watershed moment' at the Queen Mother's funeral paved her path from scandal to the Crown

Meeting the in-laws for the first time is a daunting task for any partner but when your mother-in-law is the late Queen Elizabeth II that could be an understatement.

Politics

27 h. ago Queen fought off pervert on train with shoe as he tried to grope her, new book claims

The revelation is contained a new book called Power And The Palace by former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low

Politics