Six of the Best 502

"It is as if UK politicians regard their failure to propose anything new as a demonstration of their fitness for office. It makes them safer from Paxman of course, but also perhaps insulates them from each other. They are dull enough to be safe. It is the besetting sin of the British political elite." David Boyle explains why Paxo's encounters with Cameron and Miliband were so dull.

Smart meters are a government IT disasters waiting to happen, warns the Institute of Directors.

Dorothy King shows that "Early depictions of the Passion of Christ tended to omit the crucifixion, and there are very few representations of it in the Early Christian and Early Byzantine period."

Alan Garner reflects on creativity.

"Thunderbirds spoke of the 1960s British mindset that all problems, no matter how apparently intractable, could be solved through the application of technology by boffins." The Beauty of Transport looks at the technology of the original Thunderbirds.

Invisible Works visits the lost village of Pudding Newton.