The Joy of Six 1394

“What Ofsted found was a total breakdown of safeguarding, with staff unable to cope and most not qualified to provide the care these vulnerable young people so desperately needed. Living conditions were poor, staff were untrained and poorly supported, and worst of all the young people faced clear risks to their wellbeing.” Jane Haynes has been reading Ofsted reports on three small private children's homes in Sandwell, Coventry and Telford.

Patrick Barkham reminds us that brownfield sites can be havens for wildlife: “In its ruination, this brownfield site beside the Thames in Essex has become one of the most nature-rich places in Britain, home to 3,200 species including endangered shrill carder bees, pantaloon bees, water vole, cuckoos and long-eared owls.”

Emanuel Maiberg reports on the policies Wikipedia is enacting to counter AI slop.

“When the women of England are enfranchised and the State acknowledges me as a citizen, I shall, of course, pay my share willingly towards its upkeep. If I am not a fit person for the purposes of representation, why should I be a fit person for taxation?” Historic England celebrates the career of the suffragette and Punjabi princess, Sophia Duleep Singh.

"Do not be lulled into complacency by the family-film aesthetics. When Mom the Sheepdog instructed Babe the Pig to dominate other animals by abusing them, demeaning them, and telling them what to do, and Babe refused because disrespecting another living creature would be wrong? That moment might have radicalised a generation." Roxana Hadadi on how Babe put radicalism into a family favourite.

Sonic Bookshop nominates seven essential books on British folk and folk rock in the Sixties and Seventies.