Six of the Best 984

"What was Brexit like? America’s declaration of independence? A man leaving a golf club but demanding to still be allowed into the bar? Over the years, I went through a few analogies, but the one that persisted was of a married man who has for years enjoyed casually flirting with a work colleague. One evening he makes his traditional half-hearted pass, and instead of rolling her eyes, she replies: 'Go on, then'. A month later, he’s living out of his car and negotiating through lawyers to see his children one weekend a month, and he can’t really tell you how it happened." Robert Hutton on the experience of reporting Brexit.

Sofie Jenkinson says parks, gardens and green space are vital for our mental health.

Donald Trump's tactic of refusing to admit defeat is spreading through the Republican Party, reports David Siders.

"To the very last, he raged against the dying of the light by remaining implacably vigilant; furious at the indignities to which his country was being subjected by bogus patriots, spiv nationalists and sloganeering charlatans." Matthew d'Ancona pays tribute to John le Carré.

"The Archers taps into a myth that the nation’s spirit is most authentically to be found in the countryside, that its irreducible social unit is the village – as if the Industrial Revolution and 19th-century urbanisation were only aberrations." Charlotte Higgins analyses the weird genius of the radio soap opera.

Emily Knight looks at the work of Joseph Wright of Derby, the 'painter of light'.