The Joy of Six 1482

Writing in the wake of the Gorton and Denton by-election, Hannah White says our political institutions are dangerously underprepared for a multi-party future.

Jane Green and Marta Miori argue that the electoral challenge Reform represents to Labour is widely misunderstood: "Focusing on Labour voters misses the much bigger threats to Labour from Reform, which is Reform overtaking the party in Labour councils and constituencies by continuing to capture Conservative voters and 2024 non-voters – the latter small in proportion, but currently larger in size than for other parties. This is made likelier if Labour’s vote continues to splinter broadly, to ‘undecided’ and to the left, and is a threat to the party in the many seats they won on lower vote shares in 2024 due to fragmentation on the right."

"Cambridge and Oxford are often spoken about as a pair – two high-achieving university towns with highly educated populations, cutting-edge firms and high average incomes. Both are prosperous, yet both struggle with tight housing supply. But beneath these similarities, differences are emerging." Xuanru Lin finds that Cambridge has pulled ahead of Oxford on jobs, productivity and housing.

"Historically, the psychogeographer became associated with the 'flaneur', a lone male wanderer who is able to move unheeded through the city. This romantic idyll doesn’t reflect the reality for many of us, and there are many barriers stopping folk." Morag Rose on exploring cities as a disabled woman.

Clare Bucknell visits the Joseph Wright of Derby exhibition at the National Gallery: "Tenebrism, the 17th-century Caravaggist method of illuminating figures and details against a deeply shadowed background, was admired by connoisseurs, but little practised or understood by Wright’s British contemporaries. Mastering nocturne painting, being able to replicate the way skin glowed in warm or cool light or colours changed in the dark, was a means for the young artist to distinguish himself."

"The club whose sustained excellence made the argument for change most powerfully will now discover that the goalposts have been replaced entirely, swapped for financial sustainability assessments, commercial strength metrics, governance frameworks and geographic strategic value criteria that Ealing were never given the opportunity to meet." James White reacts to the Rugby Football Union's decision to end promotion to and relegation from the Premiership.