The Joy of Six 1210

Adam Bychawski on how the Tories have driven local council services into bankruptcy: "Britain is so broke that it can’t afford lollipop people any more. Councils are having to turn off the fountains in Nottingham and dim the street lights in Birmingham. In some areas, public toilets are a thing of the past. Libraries might soon follow them."

"Since 1997, the number of black professional cricketers in England has dwindled by 75 per cent. A 2020 report by Sport England found that whereas approximately 36 per cent of adult involvement in recreational cricket is ‘non-white’, black participation was so low as to be statistically irrelevant, apparently lower than golf and tennis." Michael Collins researches the reasons for this very English collapse.

Vladimir Putin has cast his soldiers as the liberators of Ukraine from domination by Poland. As Luka Ivan Jukic explains, it's a distorted historical vision, but one with deep roots.

Rachel Pronger watches Copa 71, the film about the unofficial Women’s football world cup of 1971: "There’s plenty of inane misogyny on display in the vivid footage – the press are reassured that the player’s uniforms will be 'as close as possible to hot pants' - but the astonishingly petty actions of Fifa, who objected to the tournament then used it as an excuse to systematically shut down women’s football around the world, are anything but laughable." 

Lestari has a literature review, photo essay and podcast series on the social and cultural value of trees found outside woodlands.

"Perhaps we shouldn’t forget one of the messages from Roald Dahl’s original book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: children don’t need to be spoiled to be happy." Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff says Willy’s Chocolate Experience was a rip-off, but then so is a lot of children's entertainment.