When you make art proof of virtue, you can make it feel like a drag, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith writes. Instead, encourage him to develop his own sensibility

Whistleblower says senior managers did not forbid intimate relationships and advised him to use condoms Senior managers running a covert unit permitted undercover police officers to deceive women into sexual relations, the spycops public inquiry has heard. Peter Francis, a former undercover officer who has become a whistleblower, said the sexual relations were a routine feature of the covert operations for years. He said they were “an ordinary part of the undercover role … it was regarded by officers and management alike as part of the work”. Continue reading...

Survey also reveals Britons’ favourite festive film, views on tear-jerkers and family cinema trips When Macaulay Culkin recently said he didn’t consider Die Hard to be a Christmas film – wading into one of pop culture’s most heated holiday debates – he was booed by a live audience. But it looks like the British people are behind the actor, with a survey revealing that Home Alone is the UK’s favourite festive film, while Die Hard has officially been voted not a Christmas movie. Continue reading...