The Joy of Six 1356

"From where I’m sitting, it seems inevitable that Farage will suffer the same fate as Johnson. They are beneficiaries of false advertising, who eventually become its victim. That is because they eventually have to deliver on their populist promises. And while they’re willing to turn on their chameleon charm prior to entering office - happy to play the role of anti-establishment antagonist - their natural instincts take over in the corridors of power." Sam Bright goes into the prediction business.

Tim Farron says UK immigration policy fails young people.

Luke Cawley Harrison, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the London Borough of Haringey, argues that Keir Starmer must stand up to Donald Trump: "The reality is his sycophancy has achieved little: Trump continues to publicly praise Putin, undermine Ukraine, and now suggests 'peace' should come from Ukraine surrendering the land Russia currently occupies from its illegal war. Meanwhile, the UK faces the same senseless tariffs as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the penguins in the uninhabited Heard & McDonald Islands."

"Across the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization – rebranded, repackaged and framed as 'modern mental health care'. From Governor Kathy Hochul’s push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr’s proposal for “wellness farms” under his Make America Healthy Again initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care." Jordyn Jensen on the return of psychiatric imprisonment to the US.

Jay Hulme visits Coventry Cathedral and takes some wonderful photographs.

"The Great Gatsby is a slippery text. It means different things to different people. To some it is a monolith of American literature - a key contender in the Great American Novel sweepstakes - whereas, to others, it has become a cartoonish portrait of a bygone era. Some read it as an excoriation of materialism, others as a vindication of excess. For some it is sibylline, for others, passé." Nick Hilton revisits a classic.