FictionReviewA self-destructive young waitress unravels in a fierce and elegant first novel that takes working-class life seriously Merritt Tierce’s debut novel is a stylishly brutal account of the life of a waitress working in a series of Texas restaurants. The protagonist, Marie, suffers from a litany of misfortunes, whose sheer number may at first seem wearying: self-harm, compulsive promiscuity, drug abuse, squalid poverty, teen pregnancy. Furthermore, they are all introduced in the first 30 pages in a dizzying collage of vignettes.

The ObserverClubbing This article is more than 9 years oldMamading in Magaluf: this is not a tale of broken Britain. It's far, far sadderThis article is more than 9 years oldBarbara EllenThis was heartless manipulation of the hopelessly inebriated and had just about nothing to with sex It is difficult to know what was really going on in the now-notorious "mamading" video shot of the 18-year-old British woman "performing sex acts"

Sexual healingLife and styleIt felt like a way to connect but now she has withdrawn from me. I feel as if sex is always on her terms I have always given foot massages to my wife, and she has enjoyed them. But since I admitted to having a foot fetish, things have changed. She used to proffer them to me and I would massage them. It feels as if the moment I admitted I got pleasure from it, she saw it as a zero-sum game and withdrew.

Billy Corgan: ‘If you want to say there’s been 172 rock stars in the last 100 years, OK, well, then I’m one of them.’ Photograph: Ali Smith/The GuardianBilly Corgan: ‘If you want to say there’s been 172 rock stars in the last 100 years, OK, well, then I’m one of them.’ Photograph: Ali Smith/The GuardianSmashing PumpkinsInterviewSmashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan: ‘I don’t want my kids growing up with a has-been father’Jeremy GordonThe rock singer talks about getting his band back on track, becoming a parent – and how he learned to stop playing the troll in interviews

Charles Dickens at 200ChristmasA Christmas Carol: how well do you know the story of Scrooge? – quizDon't be a mean spirit! Test your knowledge of Christmases past with our cracking journey into Charles Dickens' festive fablencG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJqfpLi0e9CuoLNnYmV%2BcnvDnppoaWdksKm%2ByKyrppmjYrCivs6lZKyboqS8qLGMqqyisg%3D%3D