My stepsister Sarah Smith, who has died from ovarian cancer aged 52, had a developing career as a politician, a PhD thesis two-thirds completed and a personal life brimming with love. Before illness finally clipped her wings, she spent a last weekend away with her daughters Becky and Elli, and…

I was sad to read of the death of my old classmate Bob Gannicott (Other lives, 29 October) but not surprised to learn about his eventful life. As a teenager, Bob had amazing nerve, shown in various scrapes at Bristol grammar school and in his obsessive interest in the sport…

The writer and broadcaster on reassessing black history and the fallout from the Brexit vote