Six of the Best 740

"The solution in Catalonia seems obvious to me: both sides should engage in negotiations without preconditions and consider amendments to the Spanish constitution as proposed by the Socialist Party, which is supporting Rajoy against Catalan secession." Jonathan Powell on how to solve the current crisis in Spain.

Peter Franklin puts forward some ideas you might not expect to find on Conservative Home: "The Chancellor should announce a comprehensive review of land taxation. Rents extracted from the productive economy by property speculators and land monopolists are a drag on growth not a contributor to it. They should be taxed accordingly."

Politicians did not respond to a shift in public opinion on welfare benefits: they created it. Tom O'Grady has the figures.

Tom King says individual citizens should give money to homeless people without strings.

Adam Scovell reviews the exhibition of art inspired by W.G. Sebald  at Somerset House.

"I nearly lost one ghostwriting job because the subject ... saw I had written a book about fairies, and they weren’t his cup of tea. I never brought it up when I was working in the Cabinet Office. Perhaps that was just as well." David Boyle is away with the fairies.