Six of the Best 296

Making the case against secret courts on the Spectator's Coffee House blog, Charlotte Henry reminds us what was in the Coalition agreement: "We will be strong in defence of freedom. The Government believes that the British state has become too authoritarian, and that over the past decade it has abused and eroded fundamental human freedoms and historic civil liberties."

The latest revision of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders threatens to turn childhood tantrums into a medical condition, says David Dobbs on Wired.

Carla Saulter on Grist explains why public transport is good for children.

Terence Eden reviews his brief career as a child screen actor.

"The cathedral, seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool, would have been a massive 530 ft long, larger than any other cathedral in England. The ceiling of the nave would reach 138 ft from the floor, while a great dome, 168 ft in diameter and 300 ft high would crown the church ... The cathedral’s dome would have been larger than St. Peter’s. The entrance arch on the west portal would have been able to contain the tower of Liverpool University." Andrew Cusack looks at the greatest building never built - Lutyens’ plans FOR the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Over in New York, the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association tells us about the oldest underground railway tunnel in the world - the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel.