writes about whether the political elites have quashed or stoked populism in Western democracies here. Matt goes on to explain: "The key point in all this, nearly a decade on from 2016, is that populism would simply not be this strong were it not for the fumbled, hapless, and dismissive response among the elite class.”
To my mind, this has a lot to do with the decline of working class people and perspectives in public life and policy discourse.
has written a really interesting (or quite interesting if you're American) piece on sex and violence, and whether a woman saying “I don’t want to sleep with you tonight” as she enters his apartment is a way of screening a date’s reactions to root out the lunatics. He gives the male equivalent as “I’m not going to cheat on you” before he does just that.I recently wrote about a study we did on whether political views would change how you saw a potential partner - you can read about it here. Regardless, in the presence of online dating, there is now the potential for a disconnect between what you would actively like to find out about someone and what you would care about if you were to passively or casually find out. Indeed, there might be things that you would actively like to avoid finding out about.
I read this post by Bruce Daisley at
on whether we should be honest about how productive Fridays are in the workplace. When taken in the context of the wider corporate culture, Summer Fridays / Flexible Fridays / Go Slow Fridays can add an element of pleasure to the purpose of our jobs. I’d be interested in your thoughts - post in the comments below. Having said that, I do think that being in the office a little more each week than we want to be is probably the correct balance. ’s post about her week touches on so many important points when we think about what really makes us happy. I particularly appreciated her article on her “non-maternity year” which demonstrates how time really is our most precious commodity - and time spent on yourself is not time wasted. Emma also demonstrates how she has found joy this week in the small things - where real happiness is always found - including buying books and a fossil.And finally,
shares some statistics on how the UK leads the developed world in homelessness with 1 in 200 households living in emergency accommodation outside the formal housing sector.