ETHICAL CONUNDRUMSIf you give birth to identical twins, is it permitted to give them identical names and, if you did, what would be the implications? Peter Williams, Melbourne, Australia Think about it from an ethical point of view... Would you want to refuse the right for the twins to not have their own identity? Jenny Allen, Woking, UK There are no laws against it in the US. There are many people here that give their children the same exact name as one of the parents and add a Jr.

The Courtauld Institute of ArtObituaryMichael Kauffmann obituaryArt historian who, as director of the Courtauld Institute, oversaw its move to Somerset House and a huge rise in its student numbersMichael Kauffmann, who has died aged 92, was a former director of the Courtauld Institute, a college of the University of London specialising in the study of history of art, conservation and curating, which also has an important collection, especially of French Impressionist paintings.

National TheatreReviewLyttelton theatre, London Giles Terera stars in a thrilling production with a radical climax that explores the domestic violence in Shakespeare’s play In 1964, the National Theatre Company staged Othello with Laurence Olivier playing the military commander in blackface. Clint Dyer’s new production speaks to the play’s murky performance history in its opening optics, perhaps even to the ghost of Olivier’s Othello himself. There are posters of old productions projected on to Chloe Lamford’s spare, contemporary set and a cleaner scrubs the floor.

University of CambridgeCambridge University says it wants more students from state schools. But how does it really decide who deserves a place amid intense competition? Jeevan Vasagar gained unprecedented access to the admissions process to find outIt's a life-changing roll call. As the admissions tutor reads out names, the men and women gathered around the table reply crisply to each one: "Yep ... yep ... yep." Each "yep" is actually a no.

Book of the dayFictionReviewMurder, conspiracy and gothic mayhem abound in the follow-up to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, set during a 17th-century ocean voyage The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – a curiously invigorating mix of genres described by its publishers as “Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie” – won the 2018 Costa award for best first novel. Stuart Turton’s second novel is a further pick’n’mix affair involving a demon, an impossible murder and a celebrated “alchemical detective” called Samuel Pipps.