The Joy of Six 1161

Schools have a lot to worry about besides crumbling concrete, says teacher, councillor and Lib Dem PPC for Cambridge, Cheney Payne.

Fred Skulthorp discusses the reasons for, and consequences of, our loss of interest in the news: "One of the stranger paradoxes of our time is that the worse the world seems to get, the less people want to know about it. The number of people taking a “strong interest” in the news has dropped by around a quarter in the last six years to 48 per cent, according to the Reuters institute. A third of people worldwide report that they actively avoid the news."

Samira Ahmed has had her fill of vegan food that mimics junk food: "I say no to fake beefburgers, to jackfruit as a meat substitute and 'heirloom' beetroot being promoted above its abilities. I say show respect to true vegetarians and vegans alike!"

History, like psychology, has a replication crisis, argues Anton Howes: "Just as in science, there is simply no time to check absolutely every detail in the things you cite. And even if you do, you may have to follow a citation chain that is dozens or hundreds of links long. They will often end up with archival sources that would be too time-consuming to be worth going to the trouble of accessing. History, like any other field, very often relies on trust."

Amos Barshad on life in Decatur, Illinois, which is now the plaything of Warren Buffett’s billionaire son.

"People are often visiting heritage railway locations for a fun day out: how much do they want to know about some of the more tricky parts of history? And yet, if we present too simplified or sanitised a view of the past, whether deliberately leaving out challenging stories or focusing only on the ‘good’ bits, aren’t we doing visitors and our railway pasts a disservice?" Mike Esbester asks how the preservation movement should approach the sometimes dark and dangerous past of our railways.