Femininity
Dress sense
The average rock band from the 1980s onwards dressed as if they were going to fix your car, not blow your mind
The Road and the fork-tongue rogues
Minoo Dinshaw fills in the gaps in an official guide to Scottish history
Short cut to a Mob takeover
Today the multiply-tattooed Balkan war criminal look is popular
The Royal Shakespeare Company at 60: a very happy birthday?
Muted celebrations, concerns of relevance and controversial origins — Alexander Larman delves into the RSC at 60
Let’s call it a wrap
Hannah Betts is hooked on the insouciance of a vast scarf
Iran’s hostage diplomacy
The UK Government’s reluctance to acknowledge Iran’s hostility shows the bizarre lengths to which countries must now go to appease Iran
Renaissance prince
Wide-ranging interest and inquiry no longer seems compatible with those who bear the pressures of public life
Perils of a cause célèbre
A patronising and draconian response to female genital mutilation risks victimising women who have already been abused
György Ligeti: The 13 Etudes (Hyperion)
If you want to know what a piano can do, you really need to settle down with this absorbing world of sound
Is Hezbollah protected by the Lebanese political system?
And does Lokman Slim’s murder indicate a change in Hezbollah’s deployment of violence?
Shock of the new
Thomas Woodham-Smith frets about how to handle real, live customers