The Joy of Six 1160

"Calling people out triggers feelings of shame and defensiveness which entrench difference and deepen divisions. Calling people in acknowledges somebody’s starting point, encourages calmer conversations and potentially provides pathways to more open, evidence-based thinking. After all, changing an opinion is a big ask for all of us. It is a genuine challenge." Her experience at the centre of a storm has taught Corinne Fowler how to respond to the culture war through engagement and dialogue.

Matthew Pennell on the school buildings crisis.

"He was a real Liberal: happy to be in a minority arguing for change on a range of issues, undeterred by those who thought him obsessive or eccentric in his enthusiasms, a valued teacher to a great many students in Manchester and Canterbury, and a scholar who valued evidence and reasoned argument against emotion and prejudice." William Wallace remembers Michael Steed.

Jack Bailey finds there is no central depository of data from British elections: "As time passes, historic elections get further and further away from us. While we might still know the key results, the details become more and more uncertain."

John Bridcut shows how Elizabeth II inspired Benjamin Britten to start composing again after he almost died.

"Alan Ladd got his big break with Frank Tuttle’s This Gun For Hire in 1942. The movie made him a huge star, a favourite of movie audiences. Ladd had, in some sense, broken into the entertainment industry by playing bit parts on radio shows." Aurora remembers the actor with a collection of his performances on radio.