Six of the Best 326

"No one cares about the real issues, they just want to re-enact scenes from 'The Thick of it'. Dirty tricks are undermining the very basis of our democracy." Cicero's Songs mourns the state of British politics.

The Real Blog looks at the fallacies that lay behind Labour's mania for regulation: "The coalition has still not really understood the mistakes of the public service and regulation system they inherited. There is still no narrative to explain what went wrong - and explain it to the public or grasp the nettle to do something about it. Because they haven't grasped it and, in some ways, are still making the same mistakes (shared back offices, digital by default, payment by results)."

The battle to reclaim Chesterfield starts here, says the town's new Lib Dem PPC Julia Cambridge.

The work of the British group Playing Out is praised by The Atlantic Cities: "This is the point we have come to in much of the developed world: The freedom for a child to walk out the door and skip rope or play catch is something that has to be scheduled, organized, and officially permitted."

"And yes, it is a sad moment. Up till now I've put a brave face on it, but even so, it’s still sad". Francis Pryor on the broadcast of his final Time Team episode.

The Daily Beast reviews a book that explains how Manhattan's gridiron street plan was established early in the 19th century.