Culture

To envisage my best handwriting, imagine an enthusiastic but pigeon-toed spider that has, after falling into the proverbial inkwell, attempted to combine a Cossack dance, ballet and the 100m sprint.

The British Library’s vast collection is about to get much bigger. Suzannah Brecknell meets its new chief executive, Roly Keating, to find out how the world’s second largest library is reinventing itself for the digital age

The transport department's Community Rail Ambassador Project won the Understanding and Engaging with Communities award in the Diversity and Equality Awards for their work encouraging disadvantaged groups to make better use of rail travel. Civil Service World finds out more

The government wants us to have more choice in public services. But as David Boyle explains to Jess Bowie, in reality there are numerous obstacles stopping disadvantaged people from choosing their preferred service provider

While the overall story of women in the civil service is a positive one, the number of female permanent secretaries has fallen dramatically in the last two years. Should we be concerned? Suzannah Brecknell investigates.

Janet Williams is a personal adviser in the Department for Work and Pensions, and winner of the Head of the Civil Service's Award. CSW spoke with her to find out why she won.

The number of people volunteering in England has increased remarkably. The new Community Life Survey shows 30 per cent volunteered at least once a month in 2012, compared to 25 per cent in 2010-11. As well as this ‘formal’ volunteering (ie, with a group, club or organisation), 35 per cent were involved in ‘informal’ volunteering (ie, as an individual) at least once a month, compared to 29 per cent the previous year.

Organisations providing employment support through the Work Programme are failing to support people from the hardest-to-help groups, despite financial incentives set up to encourage contractors to focus on these claimants, according to a Public Account Committee (PAC) report published today.

Only Quentin Tarantino could start out making a film about slavery, and end up making a film about himself. In Django Unchained, the brutal reality of the ante-bellum South is used as a grotesque embellishment to a film with no real purpose other allowing the director to show off. At one point, he even swaggers on screen himself in one of the least convincing scenes of this abysmal film.

You know you’ve found a good restaurant when you leave thinking of excuses to return. If the restaurant is great you’ll probably be able to think of several excuses, since the best restaurants are chameleon-like, effortlessly matching whichever event you have in mind.

The government's outgoing equalities chief has expressed his disappointment at the Cabinet Office’s work to improve diversity in public appointments, and called for the publication of a new diversity strategy to reinvigorate efforts to increase the number of women, disabled people and ethnic minorities in top civil service jobs.

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