Andrew Page shares his thoughts on the reaction to the death of Ann Widdecombe: "It has been deeply depressing to see some people going much further than this and celebrating her death online. Quite apart from the cruelty shown towards her family and friends, there is something profoundly corrosive about a society in which the death of another human being becomes an occasion for applause because we happened to dislike their opinions."
"Whilst working in public libraries, I experienced several attempts to censor library stock including a parent wishing me to withdraw art books from the library’s shelves, because they featured paintings or sculptures of nudes. Books featuring Black people of note were the subject of complaints as well as those about political figures of the time. I had parents complaining about Judy Blume’s books, which were aimed at a teenage audience, because they featured girls going through puberty and parents who were divorced." Meg Gain on Reform-led Warwickshire County Council's proposal to censor what children read.
"Residential family assessment centres have become a major part of England's child protection and family justice system, yet surprisingly little is known about whether they improve outcomes for children and families." King's College London reports research by Mary Baginsky and Rick Hood.
Tim Adams says Jude Bellingham is channelling the spirit of Duncan Edwards, his 1950s Black Country counterpart.
"In 1951 he helmed an adaptation of Josephine Tey’s bestselling The Franchise Affair. In it, a teenage girl accuses two respectable women living in a remote country house of having kidnapped, beaten and starved her in an attempt to force her to become their servant. The movie starts on a remote highway with a wild thunderstorm, and the young girl (Ann Stephens) pops up in the middle of the road in a startling close-up." Self-Styled Siren praises the neglected British director Lawrence Huntington.
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