Emigre writers tell us about the gifts they wish would just stop giving. *UPDATED DAILY FROM DECEMBER 1 THROUGH TO DECEMBER 24*

“The riot police started firing tear gas from their guns.” Dominic Hilton remembers an ill-fated city break he took to Santiago, a few weeks before the start of the global pandemic.

An extract from Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration, out this week in paperback.

Aug Stone returns to the music scene with a new single.

A partial list for after Evensong.

Homeless actors, breeding programmes, Humpty-Dumpty, and anxious readers. The Emigre’s latest round-up of world news.

Philip Ardagh on a memorable evening spent in the company of the late spy chief.

All measurements given in miles (mi) for public convenience.

ASH Smyth takes a leaf out of JMW Turner’s sketchbook.

Ronnie MacLennan Baird watches the world go by.

An outtake from Thomia: The Entangled Histories of Lanka & Her Greatest Public School, out today.

ASH Smyth talks to RS Burnett about his Antarctic thriller debut, and the long road to publication.

ASH Smyth ‘remembers’ the Singing Laundryman.

Why are we so desperate to believe that William Shakespeare wasn’t William Shakespeare?

A recently discovered opera by G.F. Handel.