The Joy of Six 1209

"His other election address, targeting a different demographic, tells another story. It trumpets Galloway’s record of backing Brexit, opposing Scottish independence and supporting family values. A whole paragraph is dedicated to outlining his opposition to transgender rights and his conviction that 'God creates everything in pairs'. Michael Chessum writing off George Galloway ignores his dangerous appeal to both far left and right.

Katharine Sacks-Jones on the need for urgent action to fix the system of public care for children.

Harvey Morris says London risks shrinking its civic realm: "A short walk across Tower Bridge from the Tower of London, London’s top-ranking tourist attraction, an old grammar school that educated the poor of the parish for 400 years until it became a technical college, reopened as a hotel in 2017. Just around the corner, hotel guests can enjoy an evening cocktail beside the benches of an old magistrate’s court where swift justice was once handed out to docklands’ petty thieves and brawlers."

"In the real case, Edith targeted Rose much more deliberately. It wasn’t her father who initiated the legal action against Rose, but Edith herself. In July 1920, she consulted a solicitor who launched a private prosecution against Rose. Many of the letters Edith sent weren’t anonymous either, but signed 'R', 'R.G' and once, 'with Mrs Gooding’s compliments.' The letters were a clear attempt to frame a rival." Louisa Mellor finds it is harder to sympathise with the true story of Wicked Little Letters.

Barendina Smedley examines the rise and rise of Eric Ravilious: "He achieved his effects by leaving much of the paper bare. Whiteness - snow, chalk, clouds, the blindness of looking straight into the sun - is his hallmark. The consequence, even when viewed on a tiny iPhone screen, is to let a great deal of light radiate out from 'behind' the image. Compare an online glimpse of a Ravilious watercolour with the most playful Rex Whistler painting, the most luminous Paul Nash oil, and you’ll see the difference. One looks flat on the screen - the other literally shines."

Alan Sillitoe's The Death of William Posters may be Britain's most politically radical novel, suggests Simon Matthews.