By Laurie Penny

I have a confession to make – I am indifferent to chocolate in all its forms. This makes me aberrant as a female, because everyone knows it’s been scientifically proven that all women love chocolate. The presence or promise of chocolate makes us go gooey inside – we melt, simper and attempt to fellate small sticks of foil-wrapped refined carbohydrate while a slurpy jazz soundtrack drones in the background.

As French President Nicolas Sarkozy attempts to drive through a ban on the niqab and burqa, Laurie Penny describes how the Islamic veil has become yet another item of women’s clothing for men to fight over for their own ends.

This year’s general election will see the British National Party try and exploit divided communities in towns and cities across the country. Charlie Baker, who has worked for regeneration cooperative URBED in cities across northern England, looks at the causes of prejudice and segregation in Britain’s racial hotspots.

It's just not normal to spend your adolescent and teenage years separated away from the opposite sex. But it's one of the central tenants of religious education, and a recipe for sexual dysfunction, says Eamonn Dwyer.