The Independent

For Richard Blair, the sight of the sandbagged trenches outside the Spanish village of Alcubierre gives rise to strong emotions. It was here that his father, George Orwell, came within millimetres of death as a sniper's bullet traversed his neck and nearly robbed the world of some of modern literature's greatest works. But nearly 80 years…

The proliferation of "beautiful young vampires" in TV series and Hollywood films including True Blood and the Twilight movies is encouraging young people to dabble with occult forces, a leading authority on demonic possession has warned a Vatican-backed exorcism course. "There are those who try to turn people into vampires and make them drink other people's…

The Vatican is facing accusations of homophobia after failing to deny claims that France's new choice of ambassador to the Holy See has effectively been rejected because of his sexuality. Laurent Stefanini, the openly gay diplomat at the centre of the row, was nominated as ambassador to the Vatican by France's council of ministers on 5…

Since Andrew Wakefield spread alarm with his ultimately discredited work linking the MMR vaccine to autism, the issue of mass immunisation has been extremely vexed. The return of measles to the United States and outbreaks here are testament to the degree of hesitancy which exists. As for the annual flu vaccine, scepticism is almost de rigueur.…