Ferocious showers might have been the talking point at the sixth Latitude Festival but they had competition from showstopping music, punter-pleasing comedy and startling theatre... more
The murder of Islington teenager Ben Kinsella showed how young people can find comfort in poetry at moments of crisis, the former poet laureate says... more
In Waterstone’s I found 10 love poems in a pristine white envelope. Though mostly contemporary, they seem almost sweetly Victorian in the context of the modern "F**k off, he's mine" Valentine’s card... more
Sir Andrew Motion has been accused of 'ripping off' a military historian's research for his Remembrance Sunday poem about shell-shocked soldiers... more
SPORTING events turn us all into instant experts. Cometh the World Cup, cometh our intimate knowledge of "catenaccio" and Cameroonian goalkeepers. Then, when the jamboree folds up, so does our dossier of facile judgments.... more
From Seamus Heaney's Underground underworld to Andrew Motion's Thames trek, London is a poet's playground. Adam O'Riordan explores the capital's text appeal... more
With its token £5,750-a-year salary and case of wine for your trouble, our Poet Laureateship has long been what the outgoing laureate Andrew Motion has affectionately termed an "honorary joke"... more
In some ways, Andrew Motion has been the perfect Poet Laureate. As a poet, Motion has never shown the tiniest inkling of talent at any point in his career - and this lucky chance has freed him to perform the public duties of the laureateship without anybody worrying that he is betraying his genius... more
Tonight:
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