Rampant slaughter! Sexy armour! Tiger maulings! We bust the gladiator myths

As swords and sandals make a bloody return to the screen, the ‘Colosseum consultant’ who advises all the epic productions about accuracy tells us why he is ‘paid to be ignored’

Academic journals are a lucrative scam – and we’re determined to change that

Giant publishers are bleeding universities dry, with profit margins that rival Google’s. So we decided to start our own, says academic Arash Abizadeh

Sandy Brownjohn obituary

Other lives: Poet and educator whose books transformed the teaching of poetry-writing in schools

‘Reading’s in danger’: Frank Cottrell-Boyce on books, kids – and the explosive power of Heidi

He has written hit films like 24 Hour Party People and cooked up the Queen’s Olympic skydive. But now, having been crowned Children’s Laureate, he’s on a mission to show kids that books will change their lives

The Truth About English Grammar by Geoffrey K Pullum review – the pants rule and other pipe dreams

A breezy guide to grammar sides with the ordinary Joe against the nitpickers

‘If there’s nowhere else to go, this is where they come’: how Britain’s libraries provide much more than books

The long read: In 2024, libraries are unofficial creches, homeless shelters, language schools and asylum support providers – filling the gaps left by a state that has reneged on its responsibilities

Richard Abraham obituary

Other lives: History teacher and writer on the leading figures of the Russian revolution

The big idea: why we need to put death on the curriculum

Most British children experience bereavement, and schools should help them deal with it

Children reading fewer, less challenging books, UK and Ireland study finds

Survey of more than 1.2 million pupils finds a decrease in volume of books read, with a ‘sharp drop’ in difficulty for older secondary students

How US schools became a political battleground: ‘These are proxies for a bigger clash in society’

In They Came for the Schools, Mike Hixenbaugh looks at how a conservative agenda caused conflict in his Texas school system

Chris Williams obituary

Other lives: Historian who specialised in research on Welsh radical traditions and edited Richard Burton’s diaries

Maureen O’Connor obituary

Other lives: Crime novelist and founding editor of Education Guardian

Award-winning UK teacher aims to show adults their historical blind spots

Shalina Patel’s book highlights stories traditionally left out of the textbooks, particular those of women and people of colour

Readers reply: who has been treated most unfairly by history?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

‘I now know that anything is possible’: from a women’s shelter to Cambridge University

No matter how low you sink, your dreams can still come true: one woman’s inspirational story, by Maxine Nwaneri