The Joy of Six 1590

Jonathan Wilson explains why we're stuck with a Premier League in the clutches of the global mega-rich: "Clubs represent their communities and for fans support becomes an aspect of identity, a link to family and place and past, a role that has only become more significant as the influence of traditional institutions – the church, the workplace, the social club – has faded. Yet fans in England have almost never owned their clubs, which in part underlies the present crisis."

"While investors get richer, the dysfunctional market inflicts a huge cost on children in care. Young people removed from their families are scattered across the country to homes that don't even meet the most basic standards set by Ofsted. Increasingly, children are sent to homes that are not registered with Ofsted. These homes are not subject to regulatory scrutiny or external oversight. Vulnerable children are put at great risk of further harm." Martin Barrow on the government's failure to make good its pledge to end profiteering in children’s social care.

"In the debates that surrounded the bill that would go on to become the Representation of the People Act 1918, an amendment was tabled to introduce proportional representation, which was narrowly defeated." Jennifer Davey surveys the long history of debates about how MPs should be elected.

Dan Falk says eugenics is rearing its ugly head again in today’s crucible of politics and culture: "Much like its original incarnation from the late 19th century through the aftermath of World War II, its current rise is tangled up in politics, ideology, and an insidious desire to divide rather than unite people. And, as in the old days, on the unfounded notion that biology is the be-all and end-all of a person's character and worth."

"It could be the strip of dirt by some train tracks or a gravel-filled schoolyard or sometimes even guerrilla gardening on abandoned lots – a kind of living patchwork with the potential to transform an entire neighbourhood." Anna Rogers celebrates the giant power of tiny parks.

Discontinued Notes walks through a townscape of canals, flyovers and ruin porn beneath Spaghetti Junction.