Six of the Best 450

"Journalism is in remorseless decline. 30 years ago the quality newspapers would devote a page (a broadsheet page that is) to parliamentary proceedings. Now the best many offer is a facetious piece from the ‘lobby correspondent’ and the cartoon." Richard Kemp asks if democracy is dead or merely dying.

Trail by Jeory looks at new accusations of organised fraud at the count for the election of the mayor of Tower Hamlets.

"Here’s our choice. We wait and see whether a class of powerful pesticides, made by Bayer and Syngenta, is indeed pushing entire ecosystems to oblivion, or we suspend their use while proper trials are conducted. The natural world versus two chemical companies: how hard can this be?" George Monbiot calls for a global moratorium on neonicotinoids.

Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West, writes on the party website about his debut for the Great Britain Veterans rugby league team.

Londonist discovers the Great Beer Flood of 1814, which claimed at least eight lives.

"He made his Middlesex debut at 16, making him the club's youngest player since 1949; and his first England Test ... at the age of 20. A year later, he became the youngest ever Englishman to 50 Test wickets. He was hailed as one of the finest young fast bowlers in the world." Steve Finn talks to CricInfo about his struggle to rebuild his cricket career.