Six of the Best 394

Photo of Aberdeen Triple Kirks
by Chris Downer

It's been John Major week. Kevin Maguire, writing for The House Magazine, was at the Press Gallery lunch for his speech.

And Max Atkinson asks if is speechmaking has improved since his days as prime minister.

"This new fervour for ‘hard work’ and the ‘hard working’ comes at a point when many voices, and many of them far from the usual suspects, are suggesting that the political economy so closely connected to the ethic of hard work, that of capitalism, has reached a point where its interests and impact over the lives of millions, are now so distant from political control, and yet so beset by contradiction, that it cannot survive in its present form." Mary Evans on the LSE's EUROPP blog examines politicians' current affection for the "hard-working".

The indefatigable Matthew Hulbert interviews Stephen Donnan, convener of the LGBT group in the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, for LGBT.co.uk.

"His easy chameleon-like behaviour, appearing exactly what he thought others would like him to be, combined with his charm and – not always truthful – account of himself, brought him into contact with many people who could and would further his career." London Details on the career of Brendan Bracken and the campaign for a blue plaque for his Westminster home.

Lines of Landscape celebrates the Triple Kirks ruined church in the centre of Aberdeen.