The Joy of Six 1201

"It’s sometimes proposed that councils should raise more of their own taxes – but this could lead to richer areas raising more money per head. Our proposal avoids this and improves on councils’ heavy reliance on council tax and business rates." Kevin Muldoon-Smith and Mark Sandford propose four reforms to prevent English councils going bankrupt.

David Gauke sets out the moral and patriotic reasons why no Conservative should hope that Donald Trump wins the US Presidential election.

"Mansplaining describes the specific moment when a man assumes ignorance of a topic by a woman who is actually at least as knowledgeable, if not more knowledgeable, about the topic. In Solnit's words, 'men explain things to me, and other women, whether or not they know what they’re talking about'." As a female historian, Charlotte Lydia Riley is familiar with mansplaining.

Kenan Malik pays tribute to E.P. Thompson on the centenary of his birth: "For Thompson, the working class 'made itself as much as it was made'. This idea of agency, of people, even in the most inauspicious circumstances, possessing the capacity to act on the world was central to his life work."

Gareth Edwards remembers Barry John: "Lots of people ask me to compare Barry with the other great outside-half I played with for Wales, Phil Bennett. Phil had to have the ball in his hands before he decided what he was going to do, whereas Barry’s computer-like brain was always scanning and summing up his options before he got hold of the ball. Barry didn’t have the shuddering sidestep of Cliff Morgan, Dai Watkins or Phil, but he was lithe and much quicker than people gave him credit for, and he could simply glide past people. On top of that, he was a fantastic kicker and was never afraid to try things on the international stage that were out of the ordinary."

"The majority of the action underground is split between two locations. The cannibals’ lair, which it’s implied is further down the line, was in fact shot in Shoreditch at the Bishopsgate Goods Marshalling Yard. However, with the area around that now taken up by the Powerleague football pitches, and access not possible, I opted to visit the other unusual location: the now closed Aldwych tube station." Adam Scovell goes in search of the locations used for the 1972 film Death Line. "Mind the doors!"