Film 100

50 practical tips to save you half a lifetime

When I was 16 I didn’t want agony-aunt advice on sex and love, but real advice on spots and shaving – like this . . .

• Matthew Parris

Worship of children has gone too far

Since when did raising a child elevate you to a state of grace with big benefits attached?

• Janice Turner

Des res for dormouse. Just down corridor

The way to protect these tiny creatures is to build links between their isolated pieces of land

• Simon Barnes

Columnists  

Don’t steal Kenyan beans! Too many food miles

The rise of the middle-class shoplifter raises some difficult dilemmas. Will it lead on to muggings at fishknife point?

• Giles Coren

How the fall of the Wall freed Mandela

Gorbachev and de Klerk were unexpected revolutionaries joined for ever by a brief moment in history 20 years ago

• Michael Binyon

Give the MoD desk-jockeys a break over bonuses

Soldiers want the best and brightest back-up from the ministry

• Patrick Hennessey

Leading articles

Rotten laws that strangle free speech

The High Court is turning into a cash machine for libel claimants and unscrupulous lawyers, and it is time it was stopped

An end to the terrible saga of thalidomide

The Sunday Times has again been campaigning on behalf of the thalidomide victims and the neglect of their plight

Bliss: slimming under the duvet

Teenagers have greeted the research with enthusiasm. A spokesman for teenagers said yesterday: "Yeah, whatever."

Faith  

Atheist Hirst to display paintings in church

The controversial artist will emulate the old masters by painting two 20ft-high religious works for display in St Paul’s

Reaction from UK mosques

Worshippers at one of the UK's biggest mosques said Muslims who serve are complicit in killing their ‘brothers and sisters’

Air turns blue round TV's new comic vicar

Strong language will feature in the BBC's after-the-watershed satire on the tribulations of an inner-city parish

Priests to perform second album in Liverpool

Trio will perform from their new album, Harmony, after a year of combining parish duties with global fame and fortune

Obituaries  

General Sir Patrick Howard-Dobson

Wartime tank troop commander who went on to fill a series of senior posts with notable success

Lawrence Slobodkin

American ecologist who was in the vanguard of transforming the discipline from a merely descriptive science to a quantitative one

Professor Dan Lewis

Influential botanist, scholar and teacher who made notable strides in elucidating fundamental aspects of plant breeding

Francisco Ayala

Eminent Spanish writer who returned from exile to be fêted by king and country

Join the Debate  

Rooney avoids daddy of all celebrations

England forward happy to leave baby talk behind as he drools over winning World Cup tradition of Brazilian opponents

Is degree in bedside manner needed?

Two experts discuss whether patients benefit from nurses having a degree, after two unions have questioned their value

Safety alert on Maclaren pushchairs

Manufacturer offers safety modification on 1m US buggies after 12 children lose fingertips - but no action in UK

Race to build ten nuclear stations in Britain

Government announces £50 billion programme to improve energy security but is accused of reacting too late to avoid crisis