Showman, entertainer, and as some might describe him - the politically incorrect politician; is Berlusconi a glimpse of political leadership of the future?

How much can we learn from an entombed skeleton? This album introduces Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, an Etruscan noblewoman whose remains, along with her magnificent painted sarcophagus and life-size model, provide us with an unequalled insight a Roman life around 150 BC. The Etruscans were the original inhabitants of Italy before the Romans, and Seianti’s sarcophagus and skeleton reveal a huge amount about their customs and society, as well as her own health, lifestyle and status. Medical artists and forensic scientists help complete the picture, by reconstructing her face, using anatomical science. This material forms part of The Open University course A219 Exploring the classical world.

Ian Beckett looks at the wider context of the Battle of the Somme.

Two experts in cooking took Open Minds on a journey back to the Roman table.

Jonathan Rée summarizes the life and work of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Were Renaissance hospitals hell-holes? John Henderson finds similarities to today's health care, and Katherine Park shows that autopsies were often performed.

Without a seat at the EU table, will the UK's ability to shape Europe vanish completely? Alessio Colonnelli believes that the allure of the islands will remain strong. Indeed, he says, that might have been part of the problem in the first place...

A few years back, internet wags had fun pretending Starbucks was about to start selling its coffee in Italy. Now, life is imitating LOLs.