AnimalsNew research has revealed the extraordinary mating habits of serotine bats. They are far from the only creatures to take an unexpected approach to intercourse On a dark November afternoon at Southampton’s City Farm, the animals are going about their business. They are all rescues. Penny the pig, a clutch of former battery farm chickens, three pygmy goats and Salvatore the cane snake, so orange and shiny he looks as though he is glowing from within as he twines around my arm in loving, even sensual embrace.

Book of the dayPolitics booksReviewA returning foreign correspondent chronicles the transformation of his country in the run-up to January 6 In early May 2020, the American journalist Luke Mogelson left Paris – for years the base from which he covered strife and pestilence around the world – and went home to report on the accelerated unravelling of the US. The idea of bringing a foreign correspondent back to write about their own country as if on assignment is not a new one.

Turks and Caicos Islands This article is more than 3 months oldTurks and Caicos engulfed by gang warfare, says Foreign Office reportThis article is more than 3 months oldExclusive: Police in British overseas territory known for beautiful beaches said to have been overwhelmed by extreme violence With sweeping beaches and turquoise waters, the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean, are best known as one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the world.

Andy Coulson This article is more than 12 years oldAndy Coulson to be arrested over phone hackingThis article is more than 12 years oldSecond former senior News of the World journalist to also be arrested after leaks from NI force police to speed up plansAndy Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested on Friday morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the News of the World.

James Corden Britney Spears and James Corden sing Baby One More Time on Carpool Karaoke – video Pop star Britney Spears joins James Corden for a rendition of her song ‘Baby One More Time’ in the latest clip of Carpool Karaoke from The Late Late Show aired on Wednesday. Both celebrities don the iconic school uniform made famous from the video for Spears’ debut single Watch the video in full on The Late Late Show with James Corden Youtube channel James Corden’s surprise US success won on YouTube views not ratings Source: The Late Late Show with James Corden / CBS

The ObserverBereavementInterviewJemma Redgrave: 'Grief is like a tsunami'Kate KellawayIn little over a year, Jemma Redgrave has lost three of the most beloved people in her life, including her father, Corin, who died only three months ago. Here, she reflects on what each loss has meant to her and the strength she still draws from them, on and off stageI first met Jemma Redgrave 20 years ago. She was 25 and at the start of her career, playing Irina in Chekhov's Three Sisters opposite her aunts, Vanessa and Lynn.

Other livesHuman rightsObituaryJoan Court obituaryMy friend Joan Court, the animal and human rights activist, who has died aged 97, was driven by a powerful impulse to expose and remedy injustice and cruelty. She was also, as she put it, a “born sensualist”, her tastes running to strong colours, perfumes and “exciting action”. This, and her desire to do good, underpinned her many adventures. Her start in life was hard: her father, Cecil Court, a solicitor, took his own life, and her mother, Muriel (nee Gibson), was an alcoholic.

TheatreObituaryJohn Gunter obituarySet designer behind the look of many memorable theatre and opera productionsJohn Gunter, who has died aged 77, nine years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, was responsible for the look of some of the most memorable shows in postwar British theatre: Edward Bond’s stark, poetic and brutal Saved (1965) at the Royal Court, the DH Lawrence trilogy at the same theatre in 1968, Richard Eyre’s glorious 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre (the stage was a riot of neon-lit Broadway billboards and adverts), and Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (1989), starring Peter O’Toole, at the Apollo in the West End.

7 July London attacksSeeing isn't believingA year on from 7/7, wild rumours are circulating about who planted the bombs and why. Some people even claim this picture of the four bombers was faked. Mark Honigsbaum, who accidentally triggered at least one of the conspiracy theories, investigatesOn July 10 last year, Bridget Dunne opened the Sunday newspapers eager for information about the blasts that had brought death and mayhem to London three days earlier.

High time: a grownup's guide to the cannabis revolutionCannabisDabbing, consuming a cannabis concentrate using a vaporizing device, has moved into the mainstream as companies produce high-THC concentrates Concentrates, a rapidly growing segment of the legal marijuana market, reduce the plant to its chemical essence. The point is to get as high as possible. And it works. Manufacturing concentrates involves using solvents like alcohol, carbon dioxide and other chemicals to strip away the plant’s leaves and then processing the potent remains.