The Joy of Six 1072

Salman Rushdie spoke about defending free speech in the face of fanaticism in a 2005 interview: "The thing I feared most after the fatwa was that there were a number of ways my writing could be derailed by that attack. In a literary sense, I was afraid I would write much more cautious books. Or alternatively, that I would become embittered and write more hostile books."

Despite growing awareness that children and teenagers can get depressed, substantial gaps remain in diagnosis and treatment, says Emily Sohn.

"In the end Geordie lost by seven thousand votes - remarkably close in a constituency the Liberals had not contested since 1929. We went on to win Ripon and the Isle of Ely later that year and then Berwick-on-Tweed in February 1974 by a whisker. Great days." Sandy Walkington remembers the Chester-le-Street by-election.

Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet look at how car culture colonised our thinking – and our language: "When we block traffic from a street, like for a sports event or a street party, we say that the street is 'closed'. But who is it closed for? For motorists. But really, that street is now open to people."

Paul Edwards says county cricket is about more than producing players for England.

"The island is a place of fairies: there’s a castle and a glen and a bridge, much smaller than the one taken to get to the island." Ailish Sinclair goes to Skye.