Six of the Best 771

Waseem Yaqoob explains why university staff are striking: "The success of the strike will depend to a large extent on how students respond. Jeremiads about the future of the universities depict the students as consumerist monads. But a survey carried out earlier this week reveals that, though students are split on the strike, most of them blame the government, their university or their vice chancellor. Only one in twenty blames the union."

"Many of the students I see complain that the moment they have a free hour, their parent rushes in to fill it." William Stixrud and Ned Johnson make the case for "the self-driven child".

Generation Tree pays tribute to the pioneers who planted trees in Britain's parks and streets.

Scientism is taken to task by Massimo Pigliucci. It's: "An exaggerated trust in the efficacy of the methods of natural science applied to all areas of investigation (as in philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities)."

"Tippett’s music is brimming with energy and ebullience, seemingly celebrating the challenge of humanity to bring together darkness and light. It engages with questions of war, sexuality, race, and class in ways that are highly relevant in today’s world of heightened political and social tensions." Will Frampton says Michael Tippett is a composer for our time.

The Gentle Author on the rediscovery of three lost panels by East End artist Cecil Osborne (1909-96) that once hung in St Pancras Town Hall.