About this issue: Overview
One of Britain’s most loved comic characters, Dan Dare, returns in a series of audio adventures. Dan Whitehead traces the history of the space hero back to Lancashire
Seventy years ago next month the British left India and the subcontinent divided violently into two in one of the biggest mass migrations the world has seen. But the horrors of Partition barely get an official mention, writes Saskia Murphy
The 1990s hit TV show The Crystal Maze has been reinvented as a live experience in Manchester – one that has even the normally cynical Gary Ryan in howls of laughter as he ducks lasers, fires tennis balls at aliens and dives into a giant cooking pot
Forget stuffy theatres and dusty curtains, the HandleBards are taking Shakespeare outdoors – by bike. Anna Kroeger went along to As You Like It and met the all-female cycling troupe
We interview bestselling author Fiona Barton about her new thriller The Child, review albums by Public Service Broadcasting and Ride, and preview independent cinema in Sheffield, Lancaster, Leeds and Liverpool.
In news, we take the measure of the anti-fracking protests in Yorkshire and highlight a new exhibition of art by homeless people showing in Manchester Central Library.
Meanwhile, columnist Roger Ratcliffe says northern MPs might have formed a powerful bloc to rival the DUP for influence.
Plus, as ever, our popular crossword and Sudoku.