The Joy of Six 1039

"Politician after politician has stood up in parliament to insist there is no place for dodgy money in London. But then the lobbying starts. Every one of these sectors — finance, law, estate agencies, auction houses, education — starts arguing for exceptions and loopholes, and nothing gets done." Oliver Bullough on Britain's addiction to dodgy foreign money.

John Read and Joanna Moncrieff explain why drugs and electricity are not the answer to depression.

In a Twitter thread, Gwen C. Katz looks at "pajamafication" - what happens when a challenging book like Art Spiegelman's Maus is replaced in the classroom by one like John Boyne's The Boy in Striped Pyjamas.

"She has approximate dates; she is claimed by a definite place, Knaresborough; and she even has her own tourist attraction, in Mother Shipton’s Cave. But the closer we get, the more elusive she becomes." Richard Jenkins goes in search of Mother Shipton.

Mark Man tells the story of the Battle of Saxby and Lord Harborough's curve: "Not all landowners during the railway mania boom were too happy to have their land cut up by railways or too impressed by the compensation money offered. The 6th Earl of Harborough at Stapleford Park was one of those who robustly defended his land using his estate workers against the trespassing surveyors of the Midland Railway Company and their team of navvies and prizefighters

An interview with the late great Barry Cryer reveals the pleasing fact that J.B. Priestley was a Monty Python fan.