Cultural Give and Take

As the UK celebrates National Libraries Day, Anita Sethi reflects on the democratising power of libraries, in the UK and beyond and the Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal explains his project to restock the library at The University of Baghdad's College of Fine Arts which was burnt down in 2003.

Sandip Roy contemplates the furore over a new Coldplay video set in India, which has seen the band and guest vocalist Beyonce, accused of cultural appropriation.

And as Sony prepares to halt for good production of the Betamax format, satirist Karl Sharro reflects on the mark it made on his childhood in Lebanon.

(Photo: Damaged book from Iraq National Library Credit: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty Images)