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The long road to Brick Lane
Filmed against cultural tensions and a war of words, Brick Lane was a baptism of fire, director Sarah Gavron tells Louise East p

Sex and art - from every angle
Tantalising images and taboo themes, animal instinct and godly passions - Mary Russell on the hottest exhibition in London p

Whole lotta love in perfect harmony
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss come from different musical worlds, but their duet album, Raising Sand, has proven a magical combination, writes Joe Breen p

Arts

Doctors' bodies of literary works
Culture Shock: The divide between art and science is being bridged by an ever fewer number of literary doctors p
All the flavours of French film
On The Town: Stylish berets, Gauloise smoke wafting in from outside, strong-smelling cheeses and great coffee . . . it had to be the opening of this year's Carte Noire French Film Festival. p
Mayday in Dublin wins in Berlin
ArtScape: It was a homecoming of sorts at the Sports and Social Club last night, as RTÉ Radio Drama celebrated winning the Prix Europa Best Radio Drama award for Veronica Coburn's Mayday, a project that was born and bred in the club just a few months ago. The Prix Europa is the premier international media prize (www.prix-europa.de) and the awards in Berlin last month in front of 1,000 people were televised live in Germany. p

About Us

Talking the walk
Disputes between landowners and walkers can be solved with friendly dialogue, writes Sylvia Thompson p
Neither fully fungus nor animal, but both
Another Life: Season of mellow fruitfulness, indeed - so many apples the last are still ripening on the tree - but also of the necessary agents of decay and recycling: the damp-loving moulds, mildews, rots and fungi. Also, those very strange creatures, the slime moulds. p
Eye On Nature
Readers' observations on nature. p
Horizons
Climate change lectures: Climate change is the theme of a series of public lectures in Dublin, organised by the Environmental Protection Agency, which starts on Tuesday. The seven-part series, which will be addressed by international experts, will explore aspects of climate change, from predictions and impacts to economic and political consequences. p

Book Reviews

Cardboard worlds, wriggly worms and the dish who ran away with the spoon
Picture books: Niamh Sharkey on Frank McCourt's foray into children's literature and other delights p
Give pease a chance . . .
Poetry: Enda Wyley on poems to engage all ages p
Variety and versatility
Robert Dunbar on Irish novels and other offerings p
A lawyer the world can love
Biography: Funny and self-deprecating in that bumbling, endearing way of his, always primed with a quip or anecdote on any subject, John Mortimer gives good value in interviews. p
In the wrong time
Biography: The life of Bernard Malamud - like the lives of all great writers - is a good reason not to become a writer oneself. It's all there, in Philip Davis's magnificent biography: the early family tragedy, the periods of unemployment, and the odd jobs in factories and department stores, the poorly paid tutoring and temporary teaching positions in out of the way colleges, and then, finally, after years of struggle, the first few short stories published, and then the novel, and the second novel, and the inevitable affair with a student, and the strained and difficult family relations, and the eventual acclaim and wealth. p
Childhood in clear sight
Fiction: This is one of those books you don't so much read as recognise. For here, in prose of easy immediacy, is the stuff of an Irish childhood in the second half of the 20th century. Ham sandwiches wrapped in the sliced pan wrapper. p
The struggle of surviving Christmas
Short Stories: Since Maeve Binchy took the Irish book world by storm with her wonderful first novel, Light a Penny Candle, in 1982, she has published 17 more books. Her position as the queen of popular fiction is unchallenged - a pioneer of the genre, she is one of a tiny handful of writers who established it as Ireland's main and perhaps most surprising literary export. p
Fantasy islands
Sexuality: Did you know that male stars Richard Gere and Jon Bon Jovi are fantasised about by women but few men? So are Cliff Richard, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe. Female stars Julia Roberts, Joanna Lumley and Carol Vorderman are fantasised about by men but few women. p
Vague, meaningless utterances
Criticism: Peter Gay is one of that select band of German refugees from Hitler who transformed American intellectual life in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Berlin in 1923, he settled in the US in 1941 and published his first book in 1952. p
The passion for pomp
History: The title could be misleading, perhaps suggesting a respectful survey of "the glory that was Rome". Except that that is unlikely to have been written by Mary Beard. p
From the elegiac to the erotic
Poetry: Paul Perry looks at five collections, including Fred Johnston's best work to date p
Shadows of gunmen in Four Courts
Loose Leaves: There was an interesting contingent of gunmen's children in the round hall of the Four Courts in Dublin on Monday night, but there was no trouble at all. In fact, the mood was celebratory as John Bowman launched "No Surrender Here!": The Civil War Papers of Ernie O'Malley 1922-1924 edited by his son Cormac KH O'Malley and Trinity College Dublin historian Anne Dolan, and published by The Lilliput Press. p

Seen & Heard

'I'm thinking of going back on the skag,' he goes.I'm like, 'Ronan, you've never been on skag. You're 10.'
Trying to explain to Ronan that life is like a three-tiered cake plate, and that Blathin's old pair are not going to let her go out with him . . . it's bound to end in tears p
Wearing the trousers
TV Review: Skinny and Gymkhana ride again! The fabulously fatuous fashionistas, Trinny and Susannah, like a conjoined "tell-me-that's-Armani" fairy godmother, are back on the box, sprinkling their elegant fairy dust over unsuspecting members of the British public in Trinny and Susannah Undress the Nation. p
The Minister is on the line
Radio Review: Despite the acres of coverage and general brouhaha over the Late Late Show's ditching of Dr John Crown, one of the sharpest critics of the health service, I'm still not clear about what really went on. While that incident is already fading from my memory, the contribution of the Minister of State for Integration, Conor Lenihan, to the subject on Marian Finucane (RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday) will not go away so easily. p

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The long road to Brick Lane

Sex and art - from every angle

Whole lotta love in perfect harmony

Doctors' bodies of literary works

All the flavours of French film

Mayday in Dublin wins in Berlin

Talking the walk

Neither fully fungus nor animal, but both

Eye On Nature

Horizons

Cardboard worlds, wriggly worms and the dish who ran away with the spoon

Give pease a chance . . .

Variety and versatility

A lawyer the world can love

In the wrong time

Childhood in clear sight

The struggle of surviving Christmas

Fantasy islands

Vague, meaningless utterances

The passion for pomp

From the elegiac to the erotic

Shadows of gunmen in Four Courts

'I'm thinking of going back on the skag,' he goes.I'm like, 'Ronan, you've never been on skag. You're 10.'

Wearing the trousers

The Minister is on the line

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