Chelsea and Marc. Aren’t they lovely? Photograph: Sipa Press / Rex Features What is Truman trying to prove?” wondered a waspishly pained Cecil Beaton of Mr Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball. “The foolishness of spending so much time organising the party is something for a younger man or worthless woman to indulge in, if [...]

Extracting shale gas near Blackpool would reduce the need for imports as North Sea gas supplies dwindle. Photograph: Christopher Thomond Blackpool could become the new Houston if an experimental “shale gas” well being drilled in the north-west of England this week turns up the same stellar results that have been seen in America. Lord Browne [...]

If extraterrestrials ever phoned us, they would be more likely to send narrowly directed bursts than  constantly blaring signals — more text-messaging than novel-writing, some scientists now suggest. Such a strategy also would be more practical for anyone on Earth to reach out to aliens — if one had at least a billion dollars to [...]