The Joy of Six 1334

Josh Self has some good news - Reform UK’s civil war will be a protracted farce: "[Rupert] Lowe’s substantial online presence will ensure every aspect of this row is played out in public. That means recurrent poor headlines for Reform - as an array of significant political milestones await."

"As of 1900, about 18 per cent, or nearly one in five, American children died before their fifth birthday. The most common causes were infectious diseases - pneumonia, diphtheria, dysentery, measles, and other illnesses ran rampant through households, and children were especially at risk." Anna North reminds us of what life was like before vaccines.

"The four-part docudrama follows a group of mothers in Corby as they fight for justice after 19 of their children were born with birth defects caused by exposure to toxic waste – the result of the botched regeneration of the town’s former steelworks site." Lee Barron, the town's Labour MP, reviews Toxic Town.

Victoria Guida argues that crypto may be its own worse enemy: "Factions within the industry are battling with each other for strategic, commercial and ideological reasons."

"The film’s title is aptly overdetermined. Reclusive rock star Turner (Mick Jagger) is obviously one kind of performer. But performer, in British slang, also refers to mobsters like Chas (James Fox). In the film, the worlds that these two men inhabit collide and entwine in fascinating fashion." Bud Wilkins reviews of a new Blu-Ray release of Performance.

Lizza Aiken praises the sequels to Jane Austen's novels that Joan Aiken wrote.