About this issue: Overview
Summer’s still here and the time is right for swimming outdoors. We celebrate Britain’s lido culture and suggests 12 open-air pools to enjoy in the north, from Ilkley to Nantwich.
It was only a shortlived experiment but the Liverpool Free School was an influential, radical attempt in the 1970s to open up education for working class children beyond the confines of a narrow curriculum. Its founder and some of the pupils talk to Deborah Mulhearn.
A collective of female musicians from conflict zones around the world is gearing up for dates in the north, fusing together techno, ghetto bass, hip-hop, dancehall, reggae, soul and electronica. But first, musical director Laima Layton tells Antonia Charlesworth, there are visas to be secured and lyrics to be written.
On our news pages, a report on the effects on tourism and business of extending the Yorkshire Dales National Park to take in previously unprotected areas of beauty. Also, astonishing pictures of marble extraction in the Italian Alps, following a path set out by Michelangelo in the 16th century.
In arts and entertainment, we preview a new exhibition at Liverpool’s FACT that explores how the world can be measured and predicted through data and other observational methods. There are also reviews of TV, games and independent cinema, as well as our extensive books coverage in Reading Room.
Shania Twain writes a letter to her younger self, columnist Roger Ratcliffe wonders whether there’s any comparison between our holidaying habits and Brexit opinions, plus there’s our crossword, Sudoku and much more.