Reading Laura Mauro’s “Japanese Toilet Ghosts” [FT459:30-35], reminded me of a less well known fear in the Western world, which –according to the modern rabbinical Internet resource site TheTorah.com

Our round-up of the funny, fascinating and unusual stories this fortnight

Bring festive cheer to your bathroom with these fun chimney-themed loo-roll covers

We can’t predict exactly how you’ll be feeling as the year comes to a close, but our best guess is that you’ll be in need of a breather. Because for many of us, 2025 has not been painless. Political t

While the original National Folklore Survey from the 1960s was unscientific and open ended, simply asking random people “what do you know to be true?”, its 21st century successor is a very different b

Today’s queues may be digital, but the fight to secure that must-have present and avoid small, disappointed faces is timeless. Tom Howells looks at the toys topping recent (and less recent) Christmas wish lists