Six of the Best 711

Mark Mills was never Kaiser Bill's batman, but he did learn a lot from being Vince Cable's intern.

Jeremy Corbyn will never be prime minister. Or so Louis Mian reckons.

Anoosh Chakelian reminds us that children's fiction can be political: "Although The Demon Headmaster: Total Control ... is not explicitly political, the effects of successive Tory government education reforms since the last book in 2002 weigh heavy on the plot and pupils."

"The 'tough guy' narrative is seductive. It suggests we have control over our fate, that we can will cancer away. These are lies we tell ourselves. And for some patients that’s helpful. It gets them through the day. For them, it’s a useful tool. But courageousness is a standard that no sick person should feel like they have to meet." Josh Friedman, a cancer survivor himself, thinks some of the reaction to John McCain's diagnosis has been unhelpful.

When Saturday Comes says Glasgow’s ghostly Cathkin Park, once the home of Third Lanark, stands as a warning to football’s wayward owners.

"The internet tells me that Jane's Country Year was Malcolm Saville's favourite of his own books." Front Free Endpaper reproduces Bernard Bowerman's illustrations (one of which you can see here).