The Joy of Six 1061

"The prime minister’s official spokesman cannot double as a liar. Both the press and the public need to know that they can trust what is being said in the name of the prime minister and the government. And that action should not have rested with the prime minister – it should have been the cabinet secretary who made clear that the lies had besmirched the civil service’s reputation and demanded their departure." Jill Rutter says Simon Case must stop the No. 10 press office telling lies.

James Kirkup offers a penetrating character sketch of Boris Johnson: "Yes, he went to Eton and the Bullingdon with them, but he was never truly People Like Us. His family had neither the money nor the breeding that Cameron was born to. Some people even say that the very name 'Boris' came about because the other boys started using it to bully the young Al Johnson: he adopted the name and the persona of Boris in to roll with the punches and fit in."

The government's Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies programme is an abject failure, argues Michael Scott.

Will Lloyd makes a Tory-Anarchist case for abolishing schools.

"Sadly, Jethro Tull brought the day to an end. But what a day it had been. For some, the combination of the Old Peculiar and the hot sunshine had taken its toll, but for most they were just intoxicated with the enjoyment of the day." Forget Glastonbury: John Heywood remembers Nostell Priory, 1982.

Simon Court looks at the art of Samuel Palmer.