When a US congressional delegation toured the Irish border recently, Nancy Pelosi repeatedly warned that the UK can forget about a free-trade deal with the US if it fails to meet its commitments to the Good Friday Agreement. Why does it matter what the speaker of the House of Representatives says? Because her country is a joint custodian of the agreement and she doesn’t like what she’s hearing about Brexit.

As Liam Kennedy reports, Pelosi’s visit was an example of the historically strong diplomatic ties between the US and Ireland. The death of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland has reminded us all how fragile the peace process is, and with a state visit from Donald Trump on the cards, it’s worth taking note of how much influence American politicians could have in the Brexit process.

Daphne du Maurier was one of Britain’s most popular novelists of the 20th century and her psychological thriller, Rebecca, was recently voted the nation’s favourite book of the last 225 years. What many people don’t know is that she was a prolific poet as well. Last week, two previously unknown poems were discovered hidden in a photo frame that belonged to the author. Du Maurier scholar Laura Varnam casts her eye over the new material and finds a young writer beginning to explore what would become major themes in her later work.

Why can’t we tickle ourselves? Florence, age 12, wanted to know – but be warned, the answer involves giggling rats and creepy crawlies. Any child can send in their own perplexing questions about the world: just hit reply to this email, and include their name, age and town or city of residence – we’ll do our best to find an academic to answer them.

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