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There was something satisfying in watching a man in Almeria, Spain, struggle to haul a fridge – that he’d chucked down a cliff while joking about recycling – back up, writes Laura Waddell.

The new Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan once said that the idea an arts education is useful for many jobs ‘couldn’t be further from the truth’, notes Laura Waddell.

Respect is key when children develop different values to their parents and two writers – Zeba Talkhani, author of the fascinating memoir My Past is a Foreign Country, and Ocean Vuong – offer different insights on the process of becoming an independent adult, writes Laura Waddell.

Will UK still laugh at Boris Johnson’s antics if he continues to liken Muslim women to letter boxes as Prime Minister, asks Laura Waddell.

In some ways, the recent Area 51 meme is only the latest 90s fad to come full circle and return, like tattoo necklaces and tie-dye. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, a Facebook event to storm Area 51 (“they can’t stop all of us”) has gone viral and is the current reference du jour online.

Online trolls abuse high-profile women in a bid to dissuade them from speaking out in public, but a wave of new stars like footballer Megan Rapinoe and politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is fighting back, writes Laura Waddell.

Writers like Donna Tartt, Elena Ferrante and Stefan Zweig can transport you to a different world, writes Laura Waddell.

Parochialism does not serve emerging Scottish literature blooming with new voices, writes Laura Waddell

Women were excluded from 1970s football world, but times have changed and a meteor is coming as the Scotland’s Women’s National Team prepares to compete in the World Cup finals in France, writes Laura Waddell.

Kerry Hudson’s new book Lowborn initially appeared daunting, but Laura Waddell found herself engrossed and read it in a day.

Nicola Sturgeon feels like the adult in the room amid sound and fury over allegations of bullying against Joanna Cherry, writes Laura Waddell.

Sara Sheridan’s new book Where are the Women? reimagines Scotland as a country where many monuments, streets and natural wonders are named after women, writes Laura Waddell.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar turns 50 years old this week, and I can think of no better reason to celebrate with the stickiest, spongiest, most sprinkle-laden cake.

The much-maligned talking toilets on Virgin Trains do, it has to be said, express the underlying psyche, just as their scent drifts through carriages like a ghost for whom malfunctioning pneumatic doors are no match.

The bravery of Lauren Mayberry in calling out abuse of women – when she and her band Chvrches criticised a musical collaborator for working with Chris Brown, who pled guilty to one count of felony assault after attacking his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 – is not ‘self-righteous’ and should be applauded, writes Laura Waddell.

Online trolls – both Unionist and pro-independence – remain an embarrassment, but there are hopeful signs of a greater maturity in the constitutional debate, writes Laura Waddell.

Sinead Gleeson’s newly published book Constellations makes her the latest in a raft of brilliant Irish essayists, each distinct, using the medium artfully to tell stories about their lives and the world we live in

The Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls deals with serious subjects – that could help some UK mainland politicians get a better understanding of Northern Ireland – but is also genuinely hilarious, writes Laura Waddell.

In an interview with the Financial Times last weekend, Ian Buruma gave his account of what happened when he was let go as editor at the New York Review of Books after only 16 months.

He attributes his sacking to the “indignation” of the “Twittersphere” following his decision to publish a personal essay by Jian Ghomeshi, a broadcaster accused of sexual assault or violence by upwards of 20 women, writes Laura Waddell.