Six of the Best 834

Michael Taylor makes the case for trade unions: "As a lifelong member of first the National Union of Teachers and then the University and Colleges Union, I can assert with authority that without Trades Union support I would have been in great difficulty at a number of points in my career."

"We have a government of hypocrites that is happy to draw votes from people through fearmongering, but which, when shamed by single cases of cruelty, pretends there is no link. And we have been failed by an opposition that historically has either followed the same policies, or has preferred until recently to maintain a cynical silence." Nesrine Malik says hostile rhetoric at the top of politics leads to bullying in the playground.

Ted Jackson visits the Louisiana coast and a native community that is being lost to the sea.

"Charles Dickens was well aware of his status and, like today’s celebs, he was fiercely protective of the image he promoted." Gerald Dickens asks what his  great great grandfather looked like.

Michael Livesley is interviewed by John Fleming about his revival of Viv Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson's End.

Lucy Scholes on the writing career of Penelope Mortimer.