The Joy of Six 1213

Closing the educational achievement gap should be a priority for the next government, argues Kevin Latham: "This includes ... making a long-term commitment to funding a national in-school tutoring programme, like that set up during the pandemic. It includes reversing real terms cuts to key educational budgets targeting disadvantaged pupils in schools through the Pupil Premium, and reversing changes made to school funding in 2018 that disproportionately benefited schools in less deprived areas."

Caspar Hughes became a human bollard to enforce a bus gate when the authorities wouldn't: "We don’t need one LTN in Exeter, we need every residential neighbourhood turned into an LTN, protected cycle lanes on all main roads, and regular, cheap, and reliable public transport. At the same time, we need to acknowledge that people have become so accustomed to the privilege of driving, it feels like it is a right. For them, equality must feel like oppression."

Joshi Herriman took his worries about the declining quality of local newspapers to a House of Lords select committee.

The Victorian way of financing new railways was better than the one we use today, say Padraig McKee and Chris Colvin.

Claire Meadows celebrates Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971): "I’m glad that the film has enjoyed a critical appraisal. Because I think it is a minor masterpiece. The casting - with Jon Finch and Francesca Annis playing against the historical norm as a younger and beautiful couple - is inspired. It feels new, yet acutely traditional.

"In typical Pym fashion, a series of amusing encounters ensues, comprising dinner parties, church bazaars and chance meetings, all of which show Rupert to be a slightly pompous, tactless man lacking in self-awareness. For an academic who studies human behaviour for a living, Rupert seems to have precious little understanding of how to apply this knowledge to his relationships with women!" JacquiWine enjoys Barbara Pym's An Unsuitable Attachment.