Every harassed negotiator, every beleaguered political wife and anyone given to ever-increasing moments of melancholy at the way things are should keep a copy of Hasek's classic "don't let the bastards get you down" novel to hand. It's anti-war, anti-establishment, anti-religion and - praise indeed - even funnier than Catch-22. Joseph Heller based his hero Yossarian on Svejk. Hasek ...

John O'Farrell is the author of Things Can Only Get Better, a hilarious account of his "18 miserable years as a Labour supporter". His new novel, This Is Your Life, is published on November 4 and his collection of newspaper columns, Global Village Idiot, is available now in paperbackBuy Things can Only Get Better at Amazon.co.uk ...

Hellerwork is named for its creator, Joseph Heller, a onetime NASA aerospace engineer who became a dedicated student of Rolfing-a method of hands-on bodywork developed by American Ida Rolf-in the late 1970s. Heller put a new twist on Rolf's therapy first by adding movement training. Later, when Heller noticed that clients raised common themes that correlated to certain parts ...