diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yml b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
index de9b70a..96ed217 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
@@ -18,10 +18,11 @@ jobs:
         sudo apt-get install graphviz
     - name: Install Python dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools coverage
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools coverage rstvalidator
         pip install -r docs/requirements.txt
     - name: Build docs
       run: |
+        python -m rstvalidator long_description.rst
         python tools/fixup_whats_new_pr.py
         make -C docs/ html SPHINXOPTS="-W" \
           PYTHON="coverage run -a" \
diff --git a/long_description.rst b/long_description.rst
index f411b45..6fabbd2 100644
--- a/long_description.rst
+++ b/long_description.rst
@@ -1,37 +1,37 @@
 IPython provides a rich toolkit to help you make the most out of using Python
 interactively.  Its main components are:
 
-* A powerful interactive Python shell
-* A `Jupyter <https://jupyter.org/>`_ kernel to work with Python code in Jupyter
-notebooks and other interactive frontends.
+ * A powerful interactive Python shell
+ * A `Jupyter <https://jupyter.org/>`_ kernel to work with Python code in Jupyter
+   notebooks and other interactive frontends.
 
 The enhanced interactive Python shells have the following main features:
 
-* Comprehensive object introspection.
+ * Comprehensive object introspection.
 
-* Input history, persistent across sessions.
+ * Input history, persistent across sessions.
 
-* Caching of output results during a session with automatically generated
-references.
+ * Caching of output results during a session with automatically generated
+   references.
 
-* Extensible tab completion, with support by default for completion of python
-variables and keywords, filenames and function keywords.
+ * Extensible tab completion, with support by default for completion of python
+   variables and keywords, filenames and function keywords.
 
-* Extensible system of 'magic' commands for controlling the environment and
-performing many tasks related either to IPython or the operating system.
+ * Extensible system of 'magic' commands for controlling the environment and
+   performing many tasks related either to IPython or the operating system.
 
-* A rich configuration system with easy switching between different setups
-(simpler than changing $PYTHONSTARTUP environment variables every time).
+ * A rich configuration system with easy switching between different setups
+   (simpler than changing $PYTHONSTARTUP environment variables every time).
 
-* Session logging and reloading.
+ * Session logging and reloading.
 
-* Extensible syntax processing for special purpose situations.
+ * Extensible syntax processing for special purpose situations.
 
-* Access to the system shell with user-extensible alias system.
+ * Access to the system shell with user-extensible alias system.
 
-* Easily embeddable in other Python programs and GUIs.
+ * Easily embeddable in other Python programs and GUIs.
 
-* Integrated access to the pdb debugger and the Python profiler.
+ * Integrated access to the pdb debugger and the Python profiler.
 
 The latest development version is always available from IPython's `GitHub
 site <http://github.com/ipython>`_.