Six of the Best 634

Britain's need to attract large flows of foreign capital to keep it functioning limits are freedom of movement in foreign and industrial policy, argues Duncan Weldon.

Stephen Evans says the demonisation of Louis Smith for 'mocking Islam' is illustrative of a troubling return of the concept of blasphemy.

Nottingham's parking levy has paid for two new tram lines and railway and bus improvements, reports Charlie Sorrel.

The Dulwich Raider celebrates the micropub revolution.

"Brilliant and sometimes maddening, “Jerusalem” is Alan Moore’s monumentally ambitious attempt to save his hometown, Northampton, England - not to rescue it from the slow economic catastrophe that’s been gnawing at it for centuries, but to save it “the way that you save ships in bottles,” by preserving its contours and details in art." Douglas Wolk reviews the novel.

"The big change is the proximity to death ... I am a tidy kind of guy. I like to tie up the strings if I can. If I can’t, also, that’s O.K. But my natural thrust is to finish things that I’ve begun." David Remnick interviews Leonard Cohen, who has a new album coming out at the age of 82.