Six of the Best 317

"What I have found talking to a large number of service users around the country, and polling them more widely, is that a large majority of people are positive about choice in theory ... but are sometimes confused about it in practice ... They certainly want to choose – there was really no desire to go back to a deferential system where you got the service you were given – but they want to choose in a whole range of other areas where, at the moment, they can’t." David Boyle writes on Liberal Democrat Voice about his experiences heading a government review of choice in public services.

Carl Minns argues that we should support Michael Gove's education reforms and challenge the idea that children from deprived backgrounds cannot achieve: "This attitude seems prevalent in certain sections of the left who seem either ignorant of, or disagree with the driving ambition of most working class parents – they want their kids to go up that social ladder. They want them to get on and succeed and practically the only avenue for people on many of our estates to do this is through a good quality academic education. There was a time when the progressive tradition recognised this and it set up a myriad of institutions to ensure this was achieved."

What's next for the for the German Pirate Party?  asks Jon Worth on Tech President.

"Both the late nineteenth century and the present day are characterized by an economic volatility that seems to go hand in hand with the ossification of social inequality. There is the dazzling inventiveness of the markets, the gripping drama of the upswing and the plunge. Yet at the same time there is stasis: the wild ride never seems to unsettle the static divisions of wealth and power." Kim Phillips-Fein considers the alchemy of finance on Public Books.

On Sunday morning 500 Royalist soldiers will march along the Mall to muster in Horseguards. IanVisits explains.

aliwalks takes a snowy walk from Rothwell to Desborough and back.