Paul McCartney: where to start in his solo back catalogue
Listener's digestMusicIn Listener’s Digest, our writers help you explore the work of great musicians. In this instalment, the post-Beatles career of Sir Paul McCartney
The Guardian’s product and service reviews are independent and are in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. We will earn a commission from the retailer if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. The album to start withPaul and Linda McCartney – Ram (1971)
Farmed out to a white family, I became a skinhead: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on his first film
The ObserverMoviesInterview‘Farmed’ out to a white family, I became a skinhead: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on his first filmTim AdamsNigerian actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was ‘farmed out’ to foster parents in 1970s Essex to improve his prospects. It did not go well, as he shows in his directing debut, FarmingThere are some stories that, though they wait half a lifetime, must get told. Seven years ago, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje gave an interview to this paper in which he talked about his autobiographical film, Farming, which was then about to go into production after a dramatised reading of the script had headlined a Sundance festival promotion in London.
How much nicotine is in a cigarette compared to a vape?
VapingExplainerMany people are still unsure how e-cigarettes compare with smoking in terms of nicotine – we break it down
The emergence of e-cigarettes in the UK has caused no small amount of controversy. While it has been hailed as an effective tool for quitting by smokers, there have been repeated warnings over a swathe of young people taking up vaping.
But how vapes compare to smoking in terms of nicotine is still a mystery to some.
The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrre review the man who invented Jesus
Life after life … Rogier van der Weyden’s The Descent from the Cross (c1435). Photograph: Getty Images/SuperStock RMLife after life … Rogier van der Weyden’s The Descent from the Cross (c1435). Photograph: Getty Images/SuperStock RMBook of the weekFictionReviewA brilliant, genre-bending French bestseller uses the story of the early church as a parable for the author’s own life
This is a brilliant, shocking book. What shocks is not Emmanuel Carrère’s demystifying novelisation of the first decades of the Christian church.
The Man Who Couldn't Stop review David Adam's compelling study of OCD
The ObserverHealth, mind and body booksReviewCase studies including Churchill, Nikola Tesla and Hans Christian Andersen offer fascinating insights into OCD"Only a fool or liar will tell you how the brain works," says the author, midway through this fascinating study of the living nightmare that is obsessive compulsive disorder. And rest assured, Dr David Adam is neither. Indeed, he has written one of the best and most readable studies of a mental illness to have emerged in recent years.
The origins of etymythology | Books
Books blogBooksThe origins of etymythologyCall me a pedant (origin: Latin, paedagogus) but I really enjoy setting people right about their faulty philologyWhen I was a child a friend of the family would give me a book of jokes every Christmas. I would then proceed to shamble around the house like a small curse, reciting jokes in a robotic monotone with barely a pause. This would continue until whichever came first between one of my brothers hitting me, my dad snatching the book from my hands, or Mum bursting into tears.
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
The ObserverLorrie MooreReviewLorrie Moore's literary talent has always seemed exquisitely adapted to brevity. Now she has finally proved herself over the long haul, says Geoff DyerDid it matter – did it gnaw away at her – that in spite of the high critical standing enjoyed by her stories, Lorrie Moore had not come up with the big novel by which writers, American ones especially, tend to be judged? Yes, there was Anagrams (1986), but the fact that a third of it also ended up in last year's Collected Stories slightly undermined its claims to unity.
Couples Therapy: why would anyone agree to televise their therapy sessions?
US televisionThe showrunners behind an honest, if uncomfortable, new series explain how they got four couples to allow cameras in the room with their therapist
Before the closed glass door of a therapist’s office in New York, a series of couples brace themselves for a slog. One man fidgets with a 3D puzzle; a woman, eyes closed, grips the chair arms. In the chairs, facing a Rorschach-esque painting, the couples seem aware of, if not reacting to, a discreetly installed camera – one woman’s attempt to tuck in her partner’s shirt tag, met with a shrug and rebuff, morphs into a shoulder rub.
Stevie Wright, lead singer of the Easybeats, dies at 68 | Music
Music This article is more than 8 years oldStevie Wright, lead singer of the Easybeats, dies at 68This article is more than 8 years oldWright, one of Australia’s first international pop stars, died on Sunday night after reportedly being taken ill on Boxing Day
Stevie Wright was the prototype rock frontman despite his demons Stevie Wright, who fronted the band the Easybeats in the 1960s and is widely regarded as Australia’s first international pop star, has died at the age of 68.
Still complicated: Avril Lavigne: 'Ive had to fight people on this journey' | Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne. Photograph: Philip Cheung/The GuardianSeventeen years after her angsty pop punk made her a global star, Avril Lavigne’s back with a sixth album. And having survived illness and divorce, she’s in no mood to compromise
by Laura SnapesPop stars – especially women – are frozen at the age they become famous. Breaking the ice usually involves a bad-girl reinvention, if not a genuine breakdown. Somehow, this tension never affected Avril Lavigne, the Canadian pop-punk star who arrived in 2002 aged 17 with the brilliant Complicated, a heaving teenage sigh directed at some poseur boy.