Books This article is more than 2 years oldI tried to quit the Catholic church, but the Catholic church wouldn't quit me. Now what?This article is more than 2 years oldMonica DuxExcommunication is harder than it seems. But if you don’t go to church, does it matter if the church still thinks you’re part of the flock?
Like many lapsed Catholics, my relationship with the church has had some spectacular ups and downs, from the triumph of playing Jesus in my primary school Easter passion play, to the nadir of watching Cardinal George Pell acquitted.
Mark Ronson : ‘How many times can you have an anomaly before you go, well, OK, I must be good at something?’ Photograph: Alicia Canter/The GuardianHis new album of ‘sad bangers’ is inspired by his divorce – and has already scored one global hit single. So why does he feel he’s being pushed out of pop? by Alexis PetridisMark Ronson fiddles with the lead that connects his phone to the hotel room speaker.
Cif beliefCatholicism This article is more than 13 years oldMy gay Catholic lifeThis article is more than 13 years oldAnonymousIn the actual experience of loving my partner, I knew that our love was goodIn Catholic high school I aced all my classes, as had my brothers and sisters before me. At home, I scanned the reading material at hand – the National Review, the Moral Majority newsletter, and the Hillsdale College newsletter – and watched Firing Line with my father.
Top 10sMichelangelo Merisi da CaravaggioNeil Griffiths' top 10 books about outsidersNeil Griffiths is the author of two novels, published by Penguin: Betrayal in Naples, winner of the Authors' Club Best First Novel, and Saving Caravaggio, shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year.
"To be an outsider is to feel disconnected from life, from other people, from oneself, the sight lines of communication always just slightly skewed. Outsiders can be perceptive readers of inmost thoughts, but they slip off surfaces and are awkward on firm ground.
Top 10s in artArt and designFrom sexy heels trussed and presented on a silver platter to Damien Hirst's formaldehyde shark, a tour through some of the strangest, most shocking surrealist art around The 10 most criminal artists ever
The 10 sexiest artworks ever
The 10 most shocking performance artworks ever
Salvador Dalí, Lobster Telephone (1936)The surrealist movement in the 1920s and 30s believed that revolutions begin in dreams. Taking their inspiration partly from the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, they set out to create art from the unconscious.
GenderWhy a woman's place is in the kitchenBack in the 1970s, when she launched the feminist magazine Spare Rib, Rosie Boycott was adamant that women should not waste their time cooking. Now she wonders if she went a bit too far ...Today Britain has the dubious distinction of being the largest consumer of ready meals in Europe - everything from Pot Noodles to sophisticated concoctions such as duck à l'orange and chicken à la king.
Ice hockey This article is more than 2 months oldCoroner calls for ice hockey neck guards to be worn after Adam Johnson’s deathThis article is more than 2 months oldJohnson died from neck injury playing for NottinghamCoroner fears deaths ‘may occur in future’ unless guards wornThe coroner investigating the death of the Nottingham Panthers player Adam Johnson has told the governing body of ice hockey in the UK she is “sufficiently concerned that deaths may occur in the future” if neck guards are not worn.
Vegan food and drinkIn Paris and beyond, plant-based bakeries are trying to win over non-vegans with new takes on classics
Rodolphe Landemaine stood in his pâtisserie inspecting the rows of traditional lemon meringue tarts and cream pavlovas. “In France, cakes have to be visual,” he said. “I had to produce something that didn’t just taste amazing but looked elegant.”
The display – from apple tarts to almond-chocolate croissants – resembled any other sumptuous Paris bakery, with one difference: it was all vegan.
Anglicanism This article is more than 4 years oldFriendship with Prince Charles made paedophile bishop Peter Ball 'impregnable'This article is more than 4 years oldBBC2 documentary shows how establishment figures rallied round cleric
The disgraced paedophile bishop Peter Ball made himself apparently “impregnable” by cultivating friendships with Prince Charles and other senior establishment figures who later rushed to support him when he was accused of sexual abuse, according to a BBC documentary.
TelevisionInterviewJoan Allen: ‘Acting’s like tennis. You bring your game’Zoe WilliamsAdulterous housewives, CIA bosses – Joan Allen has played them all with consummate skill. Now, in Stephen King adaptation Lisey’s Story, she’s turned her hand to visceral horror
In some ways, Joan Allen is like an American Gary Oldman; wait, stay with it. She looks so different from one role to the next that she’s way beyond mercurial, further towards intangible – like a spirit slipping into a role more than a flesh-and-blood actor.