Six of the Best 177

"Since World War II every single liberal President has reduced the national debt, while every single conservative one has increased it," writes Contrasting Sounds. And he has a wicked graph to prove it too.

Kathy Pollard has to deal with the bitter legacy of Suffolk's controversial former chief executive: "people still want to talk about Andrea Hill. It’s not a topic I raise with them – many are still irate about the salary, the cost of personal photo-shoots, coaching, expensive hotels, etc. This unfortunate saga seems to have cast a long shadow over Suffolk and has badly affected the reputation of a once excellent County Council, at both local and national level. We almost need a truth and reconciliation commission, so that people can get things off their chest."

A reasoned defence of online anonymity can be found on TechnoSocial.

Splintered Sunrise considers the fall of Johann Hari and finds that Simon Kelner, his editor at the Independent, must take much of the blame: "He hired a raw young star about whom doubts had already been expressed at the New Statesman, and relentlessly promoted and protected him. Hari didn’t get the firm editorial hand a young journalist needs; his columns don’t seem to have been subjected to fact-checking or serious editing ... he clearly was never given the training or mentoring he needed ... Hari was given plenty of resources ... but [Kelner] didn’t give him what he really needed, a guiding hand."

IanVisits introduces us to the owls of Wembley Park Station.

A Supreme Court judgment said that Star Wars is set in the future; a Prominent Legal Blogger scoffed; but Heresy Corner argues convincingly that the judges were right.