‘Like an unfortunate deposit from on high’ … the W Hotel muscles into the famous view from Calton Hill. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA‘Like an unfortunate deposit from on high’ … the W Hotel muscles into the famous view from Calton Hill. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PAArchitectureWith its spires, castle and monuments, the Scottish capital’s glorious panorama is world famous. Now a looming new addition has appeared – and is causing outrage

A letter to ...Family‘I would have dropped everything, done anything for you’: the letter you always wanted to write When anyone asks whether I have any siblings, I say I have a younger brother. Some people ask more questions about you. How old is he? What does he do? I answer: “Oh, he passed away.” Recently, someone asked why I say “have” and not “had”. It’s deliberate, I explained. I am a sister.

The ObserverLorrie MooreReviewThe author is still capable of surprise with her offbeat, funny, painful stories of middle-class Americans with midlife worriesThree decades in print, lauded for her short stories (collected in Self-Help and Birds of America, among others) and her novels Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore can surely now be called a doyenne of American literature. Faber agrees: Self‑Help is published as a Faber Modern Classic.

Gwen Stefani This article is more than 1 year oldGwen Stefani faces backlash over ‘I’m Japanese’ commentThis article is more than 1 year oldSinger and TV host, who is of Irish and Italian descent, made comment in interview promoting her beauty brand The singer and TV host Gwen Stefani faced widespread backlash after claiming: “I’m Japanese.” In an interview with Allure magazine released on Tuesday, Stefani, who is of Irish and Italian descent, was promoting her GXVE beauty brand when she said: “My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it.

The ObserverTerry RichardsonThe photographer, now ostracised by the fashion industry after many allegations of sexual harassment, shaped an aesthetic of exploitation“There’s a kind of natural urge to show off your body and sexuality and record it,” the photographer Terry Richardson told me in the autumn of 2000. “We all have our own internal porn star, and technology has allowed it to develop. You know, people flash the camera when they’re drunk at parties, there are couples filming themselves with camcorders, it’s like instant porn.