Six of the Best 324

Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson
www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk

Mike Crockart, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, has started holding constituency surgeries via Skype, reports Caron's Musings.

"Among African-Americans who have grown up during the era of mass incarceration, one in four has had a parent locked up at some point during childhood. For black men in their 20s and early 30s without a high school diploma, the incarceration rate is so high — nearly 40 percent nationwide — that they’re more likely to be behind bars than to have a job." John Tierney writes for the New York Times on mass incarceration as a cause of poverty.

David Corn on Mother Jones looks at a book offering new evidence that George W. Bush scammed his nation into war in Iraq.

Mark Cole tells the tragic story of his ancestor Mary Prout.

"Perhaps the most magnificent timber-framed building in Ludlow is The Feathers, built in 1619 as a house for a Welsh lawyer, Rees Jones, and as dazzling a display of conspicuous wealth as you'll see on an English street. The building became an inn in about 1670." English Buildings looks at a famous Shropshire establishment.

Francesco Mugnai shows us more than 30 of the most beautiful abandoned places and modern ruins he has ever seen.