The Joy of Six 1226

He may be writing for Conservative Home, but William Atkinson has no comfort or advice for the party in the wake of Thursday's defeats: "Well, perhaps one small suggestion. Have you tried sticking underpants on your head and pencils up your nose?"

Andrew Cockburn argues that the media has failed Julian Assange: "WikiLeaks took away the filters through which we are normally directed to view the world. Without it, we would have little idea of the number of civilians killed in Iraq and Afghanistan during the American invasion, or of the United States’ war crimes, such as the execution of eleven handcuffed people, including five children, in a 2006 raid on a house in Iraq."

"A 2016 study, conducted in the USA, found that just 33 per cent of employees had complete faith in their management team. And a 2008 poll found that 25 per cent of American workers considered their bosses to be outright dictators. Less than half believed their workplace fostered creativity." Joss Sheldon makes the case for workplace democracy.

Thomas Leatham on how Antonioni's 1966 Swinging London film Blow-Up destroyed censorship in Hollywood.

"Cricket of this early period required players literally to bowl the ball along the ground, hoping that a clever bounce from a speedy ball would get past the batsman; for his part, the batsman held a curved wooden bat that now brings to mind more a hockey stick than a modern cricket bat; the stumps are two in number, with a single bail balanced atop, the target being appreciably wider and squatter than the modern three-stump wicket." A Latin poem dating from 1703 gives what may be the best picture we have, says an article on Antigone.

Martin Gordon, bassist on the 1964 Sparks album Kimono My House, takes us behind-the-scenes of this classic album in the latest edition of The Strange Brew podcast. For the album's 50th anniversary, he shares details about rehearsals, studio sessions and interactions with the band members and the team involved.