Six of the Best 241

The article is behind the paper's paywall, so thanks to Liberal Democrat Voice for giving us a substantial quote from Paddy Ashdown's article in The Times this morning: "The danger is not diminished because there will be no centralised state database of the sort that Labour proposed. That is largely an irrelevance. These proposals bring into existence a series of statutorily required databases held by others, in a form dictated by the State, to which the State will have unfettered access."

"Latin America is talking about drugs like never before. The taboo that has long prevented open debate about drug policies has been broken -- thanks to a steadily deteriorating situation on the ground and the courageous stand taken by presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica." Huffington Post welcomes a shift in the drugs debate.

Ceasefire on the little-publicised case of Talha Ahsan, held in a maximum security prison for five years and due to be extradited to the US for offences that have never been clarified.

"The big issue I have with the Local Schools Network is the way that having, at the very least, foregone some significant educational opportunities for their own children, they try to pretend that they haven’t." Scenes From The Battleground replies to Fiona Millar.

Library Time Machine looks at street fashion from 1906. It's sad that future generations will think we all had pixelated faces at the start of the 21st century.

"If you are searching for the riverside atmosphere that once existed here, come one misty Autumn evening, enjoy a drink while watching the lights of passing boats gleaming through the raindrops upon the panes, and relish your proximity to the grim murky depths from the safety and warmth of the parlour." Spitalfields Life visits The Grapes in Limehouse.