The latest culture as recommended by our staff

Murdoch’s big secret is that he doesn’t have one

Michael Wolff reveals how he secured Rupert Murdoch’s co-operation for his biography and discovered that this media titan has no interest in posterity. He is, at heart, a city editor

I will always defend a big spender like J.M. Keynes

Nancy Dell’Olio makes an impassioned case for Keynesian economics as the necessary remedy for the global crisis. It is to the Cambridge economist that we should turn once more

How I became Bulgaria’s etiquette guru

Dylan Jones is astonished to find in Sofia that the former communist country has embraced his guide to the mores of modern life — and that not everybody looks like Borat

Rudd has lurched from indecision to phoney war

Matthew Castray looks back on the Australian Prime Minister’s first year in office and audits an administration which has reviewed much and done very little

Incompetence is fine: but being offensive is sure to get you sacked

Rod Liddle says that something has gone wrong when 15 South Lanarkshire social workers are sacked over a dodgy Gary Glitter joke while none of their counterparts in Haringey has even been reprimanded over the ‘Baby P’ case

Mystery of the missing tapes

Selina Mills on how some newly discovered tapes give us a glimpse into the life of Agatha Christie

And Another Thing

Books do furnish a room; overfurnish it too

Shared Opinion

I’m not saying these are bad people. Just that they are fat

Sarko’s voodoo doll hissy fit tells you everything

The French President’s strop is more eloquent than any policy or speech, says Celia Walden. He is a pint-sized de Gaulle regularly made to look a fool by his wife

Reasons to be cheerful amid financial apocalypse

The interconnectedness and velocity of modern markets make this crash unique, says Martin Vander Weyer. But all is not lost yet: this is a time for cool heads and open minds