Six of the Best 508

Nick Barlow stands up for localism against Eric Pickles.

Jackson Lears stands up for liberal education against neoliberalism.

More than 50,000 families have been silently shipped out of London boroughs in the past three years, says Daniel Douglas,

Ragged University argues that modern housing developments have been made little else but a stage for isolated family living

"The 25 men who participated in the incident swore one another to secrecy, and their names were never reported. In higher circles around Marietta, though, their identities were generally well known, for they had nothing to fear." Steve Oney on America's only anti-Semitic lynching.

"Oh for the lost days of our youth when a small boy could come skipping out of a chemist's shop with a manual of witchcraft in one hand and a bag of bomb ingredients in the other." Adrian Bott rediscovers How to Make Magic from 1974.