By Stephanie King

I am genuinely amazed when people try and tell me that Bob Dylan’s reworking of the American Christmas classic Must Be Santa is a bad song. But while I’ve willingly embraced this frenetic, infectious cover, others have recoiled in horror at the mere suggestion of any fun and frivolity seeping into Dylan’s music.

By Chaminda Jayanetti

The Daily Telegraph has unearthed another dodgy MP with their snout in the expenses trough – this time junior culture minister Siôn Simon, who the newspaper claims 'secretly paid more than £40,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses to his sister'.

Islam is the religion that gave birth to the western Enlightenment, says Atif Iqbal Malik - so why do Muslims now find themselves in conflict with the west?

By Asif Akhtar

A few weeks ago, the New York Times was thoughtful enough to do a little feature in a video blog titled ‘Tuning out the Taliban‘. From the title it seemed like this was a motivational video made by the NYT crew to help young Pakistanis tune out the misinformation those darned Taliban were feeding us.

Qalandar Bux Memon hears the bombs go off in Lahore

Two hours have passed since dinner when, over the chatter of television, a sound announced death. We have heard it a few times now. The window shakes a little. It’s a hollow thud – not quite as direct as a bullet shot but more disturbing to nature, like a force appearing from nowhere and shooting through the air, announcing itself. I know what it is but await confirmation. The satellite TV loses signal and I go to make an espresso in the kitchen. An SMS text message arrives: ‘two blasts heard in Moon Market, Iqbal Town, Lahore. Near Bunda Khan! Many injurd’.

Tricycle Theatre, London

Review by Graham Kirby

Bola Agbaje’s exceptional new play about asylum is the final instalment in the Tricycle’s excellent Not Black and White season and is by far the most compelling.