Six of the Best 900

"This is a time to proclaim centre-left values, and to try to unite the anti-Tory vote in key seats for a Liberal Democrat surge in 2024." Will Barter says the Liberal Democrats should forget about equidistance.

Paul Pettinger argues that concentrating on trying to win soft Conservative votes will always lead the Liberal Democrats to failure.

Dan Jackson explains why the Labour voters of North East England are different: "What made the unions of the Great Northern Coalfield so distinctive was how cautious and non-confrontational they were – in sharp contrast to other areas, notably South Wales and Yorkshire."

"South Africa’s extraordinary scrum-half, the bottle-blonde Faf de Klerk - out of Miss Piggy by former teen idol David van Day - may be only 5ft 6ins but he weighs 14 stone and isn’t scared to kick the sand back in the bigger boys’ faces." Team spirit leaves Jonathan Meades cold.

Adam Scovell visits W.G. Sebald's grave.

"Diana Dors simply excels as the horrific Mrs Wickens, in just one of many demonstrations of how Swindon’s first sex symbol embraced unflattering character roles once she shed her blonde bombshell status." James Gent introduces The Amazing Mr Blunden, which Talking Pictures TV is showing at Christmas.