The question is not simply how much we spend on defence, but what we understand defence and security to mean, says SIMON BRIGNELL
THE weather is warmer and the nights are lighter. What are those black, curved silhouettes looping in the sky?
Assuming you are looking at birds and not attending the World Boomerang Championships, those shapes will likely be Britain’s only breeding member of the Apodiformes (a grouping that includes the hummingbirds): the common swift (Apus apus), harbinger of summer.
Climate extremes are becoming our new normal, says CHLOE BRIMICOMBE
DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
Rising temperatures and human activity are making life far harder for these vital pollinators. ALEX DITTRICH explains



