Spiral Notebook: When the world brings me my breakfast

I had a Waitrose moment the other day, which somewhat elevates the Tesco products that were its genesis.

I was de-stalking strawberries to put in my porridge when I was struck by the incongruity of summer fruits in a winter breakfast.

Film review: Hello Carter (15)

Hello Carter
(15) 81mins
★★✩✩✩

According to the support notes to this film, Londoner Anthony Wilcox sold his house  and spent a year writing the script for Hello Carter, his full directorial debut.

Spiral Notebook: What is the point of a council, if not this?

Recently Mayor Lutfur Rahman blew tens of thousands of pounds on a longshot attempt to save himself from humiliation.

Despite a High Court judge telling him that his claim against communities secretary Eric Pickles was "hopeless" he still opted for a second hearing.

Film review: Paddington (PG)

Paddington
(PG) 95mins
★★★★★

Clear the decks, grab the children, make a note - there's a new tradition elbowing its way into Christmas schedules.

Book review: How We Got To Now, by Steven Johnson

BOOK
How We Got To Now
Steven Johnson (Penguin)
★★★✩✩

The world is rich with academics with a good turn of phrase exploring the history of ideas and innovations, making the mundane endlessly fascinating.

Film review: Third Person (15)

Third Person
(15) 137mins
★★★✩✩

There's something wrong here. You ask yourself, how come something that reeks of quality, with a quality cast and a quality writer-director reprising - structurally at least - his finest hour, feels so limp and insipid?

Book review: The Story Of The Human Body, by Daniel Lieberman

The Story Of The Human Body
Daniel Lieberman
(Penguin)
★★★★★

This book was published in October. It  has taken me several weeks to complete. This could be for two reasons.

Stage review: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Gielgud Theatre

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time
Gielgud Theatre
★★★★✩

The torment of living in a world that is threatening, jagged and strange is given full expression in this inventive and intelligent adaptation of Mark Haddon's award-winning book.

Spiral Notebook: Bridging the gap between now and the climate apocalypse

"Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors," said Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneer.

Sherlock Holmes and the case of the icon decrypted

Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle provided the key element of the Sherlock Holmes myth - the character himself - with his scientific approach to crime, his bohemian lifestyle and his restless curiosity.

Stage review: Neville's Island, Duke Of York's Theatre

Neville's Island
Duke Of York's Theatre
★★★✩✩

Rain pours down on a verdant inlet and the perfume of pines fills the auditorium. Stormy camps, reluctant kindling and a fragile grasp on fortitude.

Film review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (12A)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(12A) 101mins
★★✩✩✩

When mindless Megan Fox thinks about the loss of her father and her role in the whole Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle circus, her eyes tell a story.

Book review: More Fool Me, by Stephen Fry

More Fool Me
Stephen Fry (Penguin)
★★★★✩

Oh, Stephen. Oh, deliciously wicked Stephen. What troubles come your way and how quickly they pass on by. For yours is a life of ineffable privilege and Houdini sleight.

Film review: Effie Gray (12A)

Effie Gray
(12A) 108mins
★★★★✩

If Effie Gray lacks the emotional release that the painstaking accumulation of frustrations appears to demand, it is perhaps testimony to the artistic courage of script writer Emma Thompson (who also stars).

Film review: Filmed In Supermarionation (PG)

Filmed In Supermarionation
(PG) 119mins
★★★★✩

Thunderbirds visionary Gerry Anderson railed against the limitations of puppetry.

Spiral Notebook: No sleep until splat time

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." So wrote Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1973, simplifying all there is to understand about the ambition of nature.

And yet... the mosquito.What need is there for a creature who's role is purely nuisance - big brothers have filled that evolutionary niche.

Book review: The Sense Of Style, by Steven Pinker

The Sense Of Style
Steven Pinker (Allen Lane)
★★★✩✩

Steven Pinker is an dazzling thinker, an excellent writer and a brilliant matchmaker of the two - marrying complex ideas to simple English.

This has not happened by chance. He has studied hard to make his writing appear easy and now wishes to share his learning.

Stage review: Great Britain, Haymarket

Great Britain
Theatre Royal Haymarket
★★★✩✩

All the ills, woes and scandals of Britain's tabloid press are distilled, mixed with bile and chucked at the audience of the Haymarket with infectious glee in Richard Bean's state-of-the-nation farce.

Spiral Notebook: After a flight of fancy, down to earth with a bump

Unless you have wealth, webbing or feathers, there is little glamour left in air travel.

The humiliation of the consumer is one that no other service would demand save perhaps Apple with an iOS upgrade or the NHS and its proctology (with whom, tellingly, air travel has a weird kinship).

Spiral Notebook: David, Goliath and the sickening politics of scorn in Tower Hamlets

You may believe that Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman is right to challenge the Government's investigation into alleged financial malpractice at the Town Hall.

You may believe that the council's publicly funded bid for a judicial review is a necessary David-and-Goliath battle to protect a fragile branch of democracy from Eric Pickles' Communities Department.