Six of the Best 914

"The United States, long accustomed to thinking of itself as the best, most efficient, and most technologically advanced society in the world, is about to be proved an unclothed emperor." Anne Applebaum on the politics behind the inadequate US response to the coronavirus.

Stephen Parsons looks at the Church of England's response to the John Smyth scandal: "The way that so many individuals were part of the story, not just as bystanders, but sometimes as active colluders, is striking.  Together they have, with varying degrees of culpability, conspired together to suppress the truth about a pernicious evil."

"The story of 4chan is often treated as a sort of grotesque sideshow to the growing populism of recent politics, but Beran’s book shows how central it was to the changes that have taken place as Internet natives reshape political discourse." Hari Kunzru reviews a book on Donald Trump's toxic troll army.

Flickering Lamps visits Barnes Old Cemetery as it is reclaimed by nature.

"Staring down at the drama from his roost, he sees things he really shouldn’t, traumatic, twisted adult things that he’s not ready to see. The high angle shots reveal both Phile’s precarious isolation and the odd degree of power that he ends up holding over the fates of the main characters." Nora Fiore watches Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol.

Eoghan Lyng interviews Alan Parsons of Project fame.