Daily catch-up: in other, non-Corbyn, news, here be idiots and other research findings
One story has dominated politics this summer, but other things have happened over the past two weeks
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Thanks to Akmol for letting me know that there really is an Indian restaurant in Street, Somerset, called Two Idiots. Apparently it is a reference to an Indian film called 3 Idiots. A valuable addition to my Top 10 (now Top 51) Genuine Shop Names.
• I did Fictional Fictions as my Top 10 for The New Review, the Independent on Sunday’s magazine, last Sunday. Thanks to Market House Books for drawing my attention to two posts at The Dabbler with many more wonderful titles of imaginary books, from Dickens to The Sims, here and here.
• More evidence of the success of the academy schools programme was published yesterday. A new paper by Andrew Eyles and Stephen Machin at the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE finds that “the first round of academy conversions that took place in the 2000s generated significant improvements in the quality of pupil intake and in pupil performance”.
• Another study, also by academics at the LSE, found that “those on the extreme left and right ... are substantially more likely to also believe in conspiracy theories”.
• ComRes’s annual survey of MPs’ summer reading:
• And finally, thanks to James Martin (“Pundamentalism”) for this from a year ago:
“Émile Zola once wrote an open letter complaining about the size of his hot-tub. It was a little J’accuse-y.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments