Six of the Best 454

"Tories, of course, are ALWAYS evil, but Lib Dems and Greens can be acceptable; IF and ONLY if we are doing whatever Labour want us to do. As soon as we show any sign of not-supporting Labour in any way they scream that we are BETRAYING them. Because obviously, the fact that we all joined another party doesn't mean we don't support Labour REALLY, it just means we like other coloured shirts or something. And as soon as we become BETRAYERS we are automatically WORSE than the Tories. Tories can't HELP being evil, you see, but we made a CHOICE to be evil by not supporting Labour." Jennie Rigg on the ousting of Tim Swift and his minority Labour administration in Calderdale. How long it seems since he was the leader of the Liberal Alliance group on Leicestershire County Council and an employee of the Association of Liberal Councillors!

Iain Brodie Browne looks at Tim Farron's Beveridge Memorial Lecture, given at the Social Liberal Forum Conference a couple of weeks ago.

"Nationalism has many potential outcomes, but they are all predicated on defining and separating, with concern for ‘our people’ not ‘the people’. Real progressive politics does the opposite. People at home or in the places that will shortly be abroad if there is a yes vote in September would do well to remember that". On Left Foot Forward, Stephen Low reminds us that, up close, Scottish nationalism looks a lot like other nationalisms.

Scientific American explains how the decline in wildlife populations has exacerbated child slavery in Ghana, Somali piracy and the illegal ivory trade.

With a little help from the late Neil Postman, fatpita.net compares and contrasts George Orwell and Aldous Huxley in comic-book format.

A Sense of Place takes us back to Liverpool in 1948.