From Canada, the agony of the executioner: How a Parkdale man became the country's first official hangman – and was destroyed by it; and how come this great product is so hard to brand? Spacing magazine's Leah Sandals weighs in on slogans for selling Toronto.

Though Hackney is officially the worst place to live in Britain, the people of Albion Drive are riding a property rollercoaster. A review of Littlejohn's Britain by Richard Littlejohnm and more on Loudmouth with an instinct for the jugular, and home truths.

From LRB, Andrew O’Hagan on the garbage of England and the things we throw away. As the Labour party prepares to change leaders, David Kynaston traces its evolution from post-second world war austerity and alleged disconnection with ’ordinary people’ to the populism of Tony Blair. A review of Austerity

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