Lazy Sunday? The week’s best long(er) reads
For when you’ve got a bit more time on your hands
Make another coffee, go back to bed, curl up with a good, erm, phone. Here are some of the interviews, features, explainers and all-round good reads we’ve been getting our teeth into this week.
First up, is the story of a man who enrolled on a free, online, 10-week course in becoming happy.
“I shelled out an advance payment of $49 for a proof-of-completion certificate. If nothing else, I’d send the thing to my sister-in-law, the mindfulness crusader, who’s been at me for years to do something about my preternatural angst.”
First published in US outdoors magazine, The Outside, his account was reprinted in The Guardian on Monday. Did it work? You’ll have to read it to find out.
Next we’ve got a bit of light Sunday morning economics. But don’t panic, this explainer from Refinery29 clearly sets out the facts around a radical new policy — to give us all free money.
“Universal basic income for younger women would mean more would be able to concentrate on their education … or would be able to do the kinds of internships necessary for some jobs.”
Free money for all could solve our financial woes - but is it too good to be true?
www.refinery29.com
To the US then, and the story of two all girls baseball teams, a story which should appeal to hardened sports fans and naysayers alike (+ it’s got really nice pictures).
“I ask her how that makes her feel. She doesn’t miss a beat. ‘Powerful,’ she says. She pauses, and then continues. ‘Because I mean that much for them to do something like that, I’m that good.’”
These teenagers are incredibly cool, great at baseball and it’s all enough to bring a tear to your eye (or is that just me?)
Next up is Paul McCartney who spoke to GQ at an invitation only concert for his 76th birthday.
“We sit side by side on a sofa to talk. As we do, McCartney periodically reaches out and touches my shoulder to add some kind of emphasis to whichever point he is making. When he faces me, behind him is a rather disturbing sculpture in black leather of a wrestler wearing a balaclava.”
The angle of this interview is to hear the stories Paul McCartney hasn’t told yet — it’s kind of remarkable there are any left, given how many interviews he’s given in the last half century.
And finally to Croydon, and two civilian investigators Boudicca Rising and Tony Jenkins, who are hunting the UK’s notorious cat killer
“Armed with cigarettes and coffee, they sift through hundreds of emails, texts and Facebook messages every week, responding to almost everything — words of support, earnest but often misguided tips, even mail from psychics.”
Fellow fans of the true crime genre, this one’s for you. Time to get lost in the mystery.
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