The Tories are savaging libraries – and closing the book on social mobility | John Harris

Since 2010, more than 478 libraries have closed in England, Wales and Scotland. It's the old Tory con: talk up advancement, then attack the institutions that make it possible

If they weren't already here, we'd have to invent them: public spaces, crammed with books, computers and information points, where events and meetings regularly take place, and children in particular get an early taste of the world beyond their own immediate experience.

Related: The UK no longer has a national public library system | Laura Swaffield

Related: No one needs libraries any more? What rubbish | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett