Immerse yourself in this week's Life & Arts stories, and enrich your weekend with fresh perspectives and cultural discovery.

Appetites is your go-to hub for food and drink coverage, led by our all-star roster — including Tim Hayward, Jancis Robinson, Marina O'Loughlin, and Jay Rayner. Featuring recipes, destination dining and expert guides, explore the hub on FT.com or find the latest articles in Food & Drink on the FT app.

My Cortina: An insider guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics hotspot

How to weekend in the Dolomites resort as it prepares to co-host the Winter Games with Milan

Recipe: Cullen skink-inspired scallops for a Burns Night starter

10 bonny whiskies for Burns Night

Project 2025 director Paul Dans: ‘We are in a full-on scrimmage for the future of America First’

The Maga activist on rifts within the right, his primary race against Trump confidant Lindsey Graham — and the president’s mistake over the Epstein files

Colombian ex-president Juan Manuel Santos: ‘Maduro didn’t have Chávez’s intelligence’

Europe must turn the tables on Putin before talking

The best books of the week

Michael Moritz’s Holocaust-haunted family memoir; China’s enduring authoritarianism under Xi Jinping; inside the seedy world of money laundering; a history of everyday life in Britain between world wars; Ali Smith’s novel of sisterhood and modern-day anxieties; new fiction from Elisa Shua Dusapin and Makenna Goodman; Pilita Clark’s pick of environment books — plus Suzi Feay’s interview with Blake Morrison

The Old Fire — breaking the silence over a family rift

Elisa Shua Dusapin’s story of two estranged sisters’ struggle to bridge their differences is quietly powerful in its emotions

‘Poetry is my true métier’ — Blake Morrison on Afterburn

In his first collection in 11 years, the writer conjures his youth and family, elegises old friends, and hints at sensual memories