Venice holidaysAs the Venice Biennale of Architecture kicks off today, we head to Cannaregio and discover a neighbourhood largely unchanged by the city's tourist hordes. Its bars, restaurants and shops are great places to taste local lifeDespite the daily invasion of tourists that flood Venice, some neighbourhoods retain a down-to-earth village feeling, where there are still butchers and bakers rather than mask and glass shops. In the residential quarter around the Ormesini and Sensa canals at the northern end of Cannaregio you can still enjoy a real slice of genuine Venetian life.
Top 10sScience and nature booksFrom Shakespeare and Brontë to ‘nightwalking’ guides, nature writer Tiffany Francis-Baker sheds some light on her favourite books about the dark
We are all drawn to the night. It’s a hidden world full of danger, magic, excitement, night shifts and nights out. Out in the dark, landscapes that were familiar to us in daylight are transformed. The darkness smothers both the beautiful and the bad, and it reminds us of the things we can never know, and never conquer – although we try our best with coffee and blue screens.
The ObserverObituaryConor Cruise O'BrienConor Cruise O'Brien, who has died aged 91, was a natural controversialist, probably the most pugnacious Irish intellectual since George Bernard Shaw. He was a man of so many contradictions that to call him a blend of all these seems utterly inappropriate; rather, they appeared to pull him in many contrary directions at once. He seems posthumously fated to give rise to further controversy, since opinions on his career, his writing, his personality and his public stances vary hugely.
ROOT OF ALL EVILDid God have a mummy and daddy? Or did s/he he just create her/himself? Renee-Margaret Slater, Aberdeen, Scotland
Mary was his mother, despite his predating her. He was his own father. Or possibly Joseph was. Or according to some Jewish sources, a Roman Centurion was. The truth is, of course, that the human mind is both his mummy and daddy. Your question is an ancient one, and has no real validity, because neither he or she exist.
Club cultureMusic This article is more than 6 months oldDisused Tottenham Ikea store to become 15,000-capacity cultural venueThis article is more than 6 months oldDrumsheds, a venture from Printworks company Broadwick, will preserve industrial elements of the 608,000 sq ft space
It once played host to the sound of staff announcements, bored children and tense couples arguing over wardrobes with semi-pronounceable names. Now, a 608,000 sq ft Tottenham warehouse that was home to an Ikea for 17 years is to vibrate to sub bass and repetitive beats, as it becomes a leading new cultural venue for London.
WomenIt used to be fun to be a 32GG. Oh, how the mighty have fallen
There are many ways you could describe me to a friend who isn’t sure whether they talked to me at a party. You might say “the one with the poorly behaved blond girls” or “the one with the pixie crop”. Far easier, though, just to make a large, curved gesture at the front of your body.
Richard Adams's blogBarack Obama This article is more than 13 years oldObama requires 12 stitches to his lip after bruising basketball injuryThis article is more than 13 years oldA smack in the face from an opponent's elbow earns Barack Obama a split lip and a dozen stitches from playing basketballThree weeks after being battered at the ballot box, Barack Obama today received an unwelcome Thanksgiving present on the basketball court in the form of an elbow in the face.
More than 30 poetry, fiction and nonfiction ebooks are available to download. Photograph: Publishers for PalestineMore than 30 poetry, fiction and nonfiction ebooks are available to download. Photograph: Publishers for PalestineBooks This article is more than 1 month oldPublishers launch initiative to highlight Palestinian authors and history This article is more than 1 month oldThe campaign by Publishers for Palestine will offer more than 30 free ebooks of poetry, fiction and nonfiction as ‘an act of solidarity’
This much I knowFashionInterviewVivienne Westwood: 'I do things that irritate people'Candice PiresThe 73-year-old designer and campaigner on what drives her, the last time she cried and why she eats so much lettuceI was anti-religious at one time. I'm not any more. The concept of God and the divine is very important. Human beings have the potential to evolve and become more and more wonderful because they are aiming at that perfection.
Screengrabs from the Beit Rima footage show men running uncertainly in the street. Photograph: Screengrab composite from Beit RimaScreengrabs from the Beit Rima footage show men running uncertainly in the street. Photograph: Screengrab composite from Beit RimaIsrael-Gaza warWest Bank videos show Israeli troops killing teenager and driving over man’s bodyCCTV footage of incidents adds to concerns over military’s rules of engagement in Occupied Territories
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