In a society obsessed with sex, it's hard if you have no sexual desire at all. Some are searching for a new form of intimacy

Approaching 40, Kate Bolick has come to a profound insight: that she – and many women like her – might never marry. But revealing that realisation in an article in an American magazine caused frenzied comment. Here's what she had to say.

How could this young woman lie dead and undiscovered for almost three years?

It's decades since Tom Waits had a drink and his music has just got weirder and better. With his 17th album out, he heads for his local roadhouse (for coffee) and talks about songwriting, hard living and his fear of phones

Twenty years ago an album that wreaked havoc on the conventional music industry was released. Lauren Spencer, who was among the first to hear Nevermind, reminisces with the surviving band members, and returns to Seattle to hear how Kurt Cobain changed music for ever

Critics fear that manipulating weather patterns could have a calamitous effect on poorer countries.

The end of Big Brother was supposed to signal the death of reality TV, but more of us than ever are tuning into the X Factor and its like. Now, an extraordinary piece of research has revealed why our need for community has helped Simon Cowell become the king of Saturday-night entertainment

In 1972 he was sorting mail in a Sussex post office. Twelve months later he was partying with Led Zeppelin. Here, the hugely influential music critic Nick Kent looks back on a year in which he witnessed the birth of punk, the arrival of Ziggy Stardust and the life-changing impact of Iggy Pop.