The Joy of Six 1320

Brian Klaas examines a paradox that is killing democracy: "More information is readily available than was previously imaginable in human history, and yet vast numbers of people now understand the world exclusively through what they see on the internet, a funhouse mirror that distorts all it reflects."

"Having bewailed its enormous energy deficit for decades, America now produces far more oil than it consumes, making it a net petroleum exporter. Yet it continues to suck in vast quantities of Canadian crude. Indeed, that reliance on Canadian oil has only grown in recent years." Ed Conway explains why the US still needs Canada's oil.

Adrian Horton watches The Alabama Solution, a new documentary that exposes rampant state violence and inhumane conditions inside prisons.

Ross McNally makes the case for reintroducing the lynx to Britain: "Without large predators, deer populations have exploded, compounded by the breeding of red deer for shooting, as well as the introduction of non-native fallow, sika, muntjac and Chinese water deer."

"Do I identify with the Lady? Oh yeah, always. I’m nothing like the Lady of Shalott, but I guess I wanted to be … When Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics for As Tears Go By, he knew this poem. There’s a bit he always said he used from here, the thing about 'it was the closing of the day'." Stephanie Hernandez discusses Marianne Faithfull's engagement with Romantic literature.

"The Australian showman was a passionate collector, with a particular fondness for the louche literati of 1890s London and the paintings of his fellow antipodean Charles Conder". Jonathan Bastable ton Barry Humprhies' art collection, which is being auctioned by Christie's later this month.