Six of the Best 550

"Corbyn’s rise to power is a symptom of Labour’s political impotence. The post war social democracy that utilized the central state to tax and spend to compensate for the failures of capitalism is redundant. None of the other leadership candidates were able to offer an alternative." A cracking analysis of Labour's travails by Jonathan Rutherford.

Renate Samson explains why the government's draconian surveillance plan won't protect us.

"The weakness of the centre-right in UK politics has been masked for a long time by Cameron’s pre-2010 spin, a few progressive social policies and the restraining hand of the Liberal Democrats within the coalition," says Simon Wren-Lewis.

Miles Goslett blew the whistle on Kids Company and Camila Batmanghelidjh.

Experiments in Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire shows that Britain's farmland bird population can be protected, argues Mark Avery.

Carl Wilson looks at Elvis Costello's relationship with his father and makes the happy suggestion that "I'm a secret lemonade drinker" sounds like a line from one of Costello's own songs.