Six of the Best 225

"At a full Council meeting in Manchester the level of oppression I experience when the guest Chaplain is urging us to debate for the good of the City and exercise free speech is nothing compared with the baying mob trying to shout me down a few minutes later when attempting to exercise that liberty of speech." Oppressed by council prayers? Get real, says Jackie Pearcey.

Strange Thoughts detects a whiff of conspiracy about the opposition to Professor Les Ebdon becoming the new director of the Office for Fair Access.

Greg Farrell on Bloomberg Businessweek dissects what happened on the fateful night last May when Rupert Murdoch decided how News Corporation would manage its phone-hacking scandal.

The novelist Elizabeth Taylor shared a name with one of the greatest female movie stars of her age. In the New York Times Christopher Beha examines her career.

Disgruntled Radical provides our Sign of the Day.

"Mr Bond grew up in Reading and says the character of the polite bear from 'darkest Peru' was inspired by his childhood and watching newsreels of children being evacuated from the capital. 'When I was small, I had memories of children being evacuated from London with a label around their necks and all their possessions in a suitcase, and this became part of Paddington as well.'" Michael Bonds reveals the origins of Paddington to Emma Midgley on BBC News Berkshire pages.