The Joy of Six 1223

"In their very different ways, these stories centre on the same key ideas: a rejection of any idea of natural places and spaces being off limits, and the joyous democracy of gathering together to experience something more nourishing than concrete and tarmac." John Harris senses the spread of a new, radical British politics rooted in nature.

Brian Klaas argues that we need objectivity, not 'balance', from the media: "If someone says the sky is green and another person says it’s blue, you shouldn’t have a blue/green panel on the Sunday shows. But when it comes to election denialism, the media is accused of 'left-wing bias' if it doesn’t give equal platforms to authoritarian election deniers who live in a fantasy world and parrot Trumpian lies. That’s ridiculous."

In one of his last interviews, the philosopher Daniel Dennett talked to Nigel Warburton about some of the books that had influenced him most.

Eleanor Janega finds that we are more prudish than medieval people were.

Georgy Jamieson celebrates the career of a much loved performer: "Leslie Phillips was much more than his screen image. He was a household name thanks to the Carry On and Doctor films, but also a producer, director and in later years a fine character actor doing some very heavy-weight and interesting work."

"There’s no more Pinteresque character in Pinter than Harold Pinter on the cricket pitch. His dreams have not come true - his hero: Len Hutton; his highest score: 39 - but he dreams them nonetheless, while honing a curt line in dialogue for his fellow close fielders." Richard Beard on the playwright and cricket.