Rowan Moore: the best architecture of 2015

From dumb towers to cool interventions, 2015 saw the gap widen between the big and brainless and the small and thoughtful

Observer critics’ reviews of the year in full

On tiny Fair Isle, a cottage industry enjoys the sweet smell of success

The Shetland island’s knitwear designers are quietly pleased at the attention they won when Chanel was obliged to say sorry for copying their designs

Bicester Village: top UK tourist attraction and shopping Shangri-la

Bargains, glamour and its own railway station – no wonder Bicester is one of Britain’s top tourist attractions, says Eva Wiseman

Baltic 115 Nikata. This 115-footer is light and stiff enough to perform well on the race course, inshore and offshore.

Designed as a fast, comfortable family cruising yacht, Nikata, the latest all-carbon, custom-built high-performance cruiser/racer launched by Baltic Yachts, completed successful trials in Finland this autumn and arrived in the Caribbean after a 3,000 nautical mile transatlantic passage during which boat speed hit 28 knots. At the end of February 2016 the brand new Nikata … Read more

Drink: go yo-ho-ho with a bottle of high street rum

Rum is dark and seductive as the most handsome of pirates. So unleash your inner Jack Sparrow when you next go shopping

Greenpeace exposes sceptics hired to cast doubt on climate science

Sting operation uncovers two prominent climate sceptics available for hire by the hour to write reports on the benefits of rising CO2 levels and coal