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Perhaps fittingly, Amir Amirani’s new documentary We Are Many characterises not only the notion of mass public protest, but the rise of the political documentary itself. In it, we travel back to 9/11, what many commentators have since referred to as The End of History regarding national security and privacy, which gave birth to a protest movement that has manifested itself in countless ways over the last thirteen years. Equally so it has given thousands of hours’ worth of material for filmmakers and activists to reach a bulk audience with.

The attacks on the Twin Towers were a prelude to the Iraq War, the main focus of Amirani’s film, and he invites academics (including perpetual talking head Noam Chomsky), as well as politicians from Clare Short to David Blunkett, to speak about the social, political and moral implications of the 2003 global protest against the decision to invade. It’s...

Academics and artists sign open letter saying university's actions against student protesters are 'at odds with freedom of speech'

Noam Chomsky and Ken Loach are among a host of academics, artists and politicians to condemn the suspension of five university students who took part in a protest on their campus.

In an open letter, signed by 40 people and published by the Guardian, they criticised the University of Birmingham's actions as being "at odds with freedom of speech". They demanded the immediate reinstatement of the students, who were among 13 arrested during the demonstration at the university last month.

"We believe that the suspensions seen at the University of Birmingham are further evidence of the contempt for freedom of expression, both political and academic, in the contemporary university," they wrote.

The signatories, also include former secretary of state for international development and Birmingham MP Clare Short, who said: "These suspensions are at...

The Alan Partridge writer on turning 50, 'Alanistas' and why Peter Capaldi will make a great Doctor Who

You turned 50 recently. How did you celebrate?

I went to the cinema in the middle of the day to see the new Woody Allen film, Blue Jasmine. As a special treat, my wife and I went to the cinema to sit among an audience of unemployed men and pensioners. And there was I, somewhere in the middle. Straddling both. My 50s feel Ok so far. Middle age has always been my natural age anyway.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa was a huge hit this year, both critically and at the box office. Was that a relief?

We genuinely didn't know what to expect so the reaction was very refreshing. There's an Alan Partridge fanbase, obviously. There's still a collective out there of Alan aficionados. Afic-alan-ados. Alan-istas. But you don't know how much of that...

In the Loop - a political farce set in London and Washington - is the brilliant cinematic debut of Armando Iannucci. Here, in a candid behind-the-scenes diary, the satirist reveals the joys of playing basketball with star James Gandolfini and the pleasure of a hometown screening in front of his eightysomething mum ...

We didn't even have a piece of paper to start with. I'd been told that most films start with a small piece of paper. On it is written a one-line version of your film. "Imagine Vera Drake meets The Cider House Rules." "It's like Fantastic Four, but with Anthony Hopkins on a horse." "A small-town family murder their cleaner and then bury her in some waste ground that then gets built on by a shoe manufacturer, whose shoes are haunted by her deranged spirit, resulting in a little girl kicking the town's mayor to death but with very...

The actor and comedian talks about his family life

My father was the vice-president of Canadian Steel in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. We did belong to a country club so I guess we were upper middle class. He was born in Crossmaglen in Northern Ireland. He came first to Texas then he got deported for being an illegal immigrant; a stowaway kind of thing. Then he came back through Canada, met my mother and the rest is history.

I am the youngest of five and it's the greatest position in the world; your feet never touch the ground. You're told by everyone you're the most brilliant, fascinating, adorable person, so even if you wanted to have self-esteem issues it's just not possible.

There was tremendous humour in the house growing up. A lot of laughing. But there was tragedy during my teenage years. When I was 12, my brother David died...

Hoowee! I don't know what you lot have been up to in the last few days, but this week I've been getting down and dirty with British television. On Friday night, British TV strutted up to me in my sitting-room, whipped off its trousers, performed a sexy-yet-comical dance while singing 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road," and then rubbed up against my chest, breathing, "You and me, Caspar. What's it gonna be?" Since then: Well, I'm not going to go on about it, but it's been pretty, pretty hot, let me tell you. The things I've seen!

I'm talking, of course, about the great return of "Peep Show," back for a brand spanking new seventh (seventh!) season on Friday, but I'm not just talking of that! There was a majestic episode of "Newsnight" on Monday, with an extended interview of Christopher Hitchens by the great Jeremy Paxman, which...