From LIFE & ARTS May 17, 2013

Robert Shrimsley: I’m a celebrity … get me outer space

Illustration by Lucas Varela of people landing on Mars ©Lucas Varela

A mission to colonise Mars will be funded through a reality TV series. They may be doomed and lonely but at least they’ll be on TV

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron walk off the stage after their joint news conference, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, where they talked about various topics including Syria's civil war. ©AP May 15, 2013

A travelling press that is no party

Overseas trips magnify rather than distract from a leader’s problems at home

The selfless gene illustration ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS May 10, 2013

Robert Shrimsley: The selfless gene

Does parenthood make us selfless, or merely widen the circle of our selfish interests?

.Queen Elizabeth attends the State Opening of Parliamen ©PA May 8, 2013

Sir Alex, the Queen and plans to succeed

It is easy to confuse the news about the monarch and that of Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit

An illustration by Lucas Varela depicting a modern family portrait of the Shirmsleys ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS May 3, 2013

Robert Shrimsley: An absent ever-present father

The Skype effect: distance may no longer be a problem but a persistent relative can leave you afraid to open your laptop

An illustration by Lucas Varela of Neil Diamond singing 'Sweet Caroline' ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS Apr 26, 2013

Robert Shrimsley: Singalong solidarity

How Neil Diamond’s saccharine love song ‘Sweet Caroline’ is helping Bostonians to grieve

An illustration depicting belts and breeding ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS Apr 19, 2013

Robert Shrimsley: A saga of belts and breeding

The search for a new belt at an airport departure lounge leads to the identification of new social strata in Britain

An illustration depicting Paris Brown and her unpleasant tweets ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS Apr 12, 2013

Robert Shrimsley: Rebel without applause

The Paris Brown saga: the young can teach us a lot in some areas, but it is reassuring to see that the cult of youth has its limits

Fab Four studies illustration by Lucas Varela ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS Apr 5, 2013

Fab Four studies? Let it be

Be it magical mystery or tragical history, it’s not just the topic that counts; it’s the quality of the teaching

An illustration of a child spending time on the computer ©Lucas Varela From LIFE & ARTS Mar 29, 2013

‘I coulda been an app vendor’

How to nurture your child’s inner Nick D’Aloisio

Mar 27, 2013

Personal banking, the eurozone way

Managers as well as bank customers are feeling the pressure

From LIFE & ARTS Mar 22, 2013

The unbearable sadness of reading

‘I have had an epiphany: I do not need to sit through things that will make me miserable‘

Mar 20, 2013

Back to the lab for a dose of austerity

The chancellor’s wonder drug Austerity™, which he promoted as ‘economic Viagra’, has had a setback

From LIFE & ARTS Mar 15, 2013

Killing off our bookshops? Who dunnit?

This is no time for evasion. So let me come right out and say it. I blame you

Mar 13, 2013

Judging the honesty of British politics

The UK political realm’s moral state is not quite as clean as it likes to think

From LIFE & ARTS Mar 8, 2013

Hovering parents, unite!

Claire Perry MP says we devote too much time to parenting. But isn’t that better than not enough?

From LIFE & ARTS Mar 1, 2013

Welcome home! You’re downgraded

On return from holiday the house was intact but the country was in a shambles

Mar 1, 2013

Beware of misreading Eastleigh result

The by-election is a political, not electoral, problem for David Cameron

Feb 27, 2013

By Gove, now that’s what I call history

The fact that the English are champion invaders appears to drive their new history curriculum

From LIFE & ARTS Feb 15, 2013

Horses for (main) courses

There’s nothing like a good food scare to send angsty parents scurrying back to the natural food counter

ABOUT ROBERT

Robert Shrimsley Robert Shrimsley is the Managing Editor of FT.com. Before this he has served as the FT’s chief political correspondent and news editor.

He writes weekly for the Notebook column, a satirical look at the week’s news and for the FT weekend Magazine.

E-mail Robert Shrimsley