The Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 22
Ssssshhh ...
I’m typing this quietly, because my neighbour is outside fixing what happened to their front garden when I accidentally drove a LWB Transit over it, during something of an episode on Friday afternoon. (Diazepam, stat!)
We’ve spoken, I’ve apologised, offered to pay etc, and AFAIK we’re cool, but I’m only leaving the house under cover of darkness at the moment.
Getting a van wedged on an ornamental rock feature was pretty much the rancid cherry on the cake of shit with toxic icing that was my week, to be honest.
And how are you doing?
I need your thoughts, input - frankly - help with a couple of things
I’ll tell you about one of them further down the page, but one has to do with the Sunday Supplement. I’m having Direction Issues.
This newsletter tries to give you something worthwhile to read, other than the AI-powered click-seeking crap that’s flung at us all on socials, even by news organisations who out to know better. To that end, I try to keep it as positive as possible.
However, whilst there’s plenty to be positive about, there’s also still a lot of stuff that isn’t, and that I feel strongly we should know about and understand if we’re to be informed world citizens and do our part in hosing down the Augean Stables. Not ‘breaking news’ (a term rapidly becoming devalued) but solid information and analysis about what’s happening. Unfortunately, looking at that stuff can make us respond with oh my God have you seen this and this and this and it’s all so terribly awful which I’m guessing is not what you need right now. So, do I include some of that, for the common good and the betterment of the Hello You family?
Or do I banish that from your Sunday morning reading, and give you alternatives to the jeremiad? Not necessarily ‘hello sky hello trees puppies and kittens’ but something that will leave you untroubled? Or less troubled?
Is there an in-between option, where I use the Sunday Supplement to zoom out from the in-your-face-ness of news to give some space, context, and just other stuff?
I’d really like to know what you think, especially if there’s another option that I’ve not thought of, which reflects what you’d like in your inbox on a Sunday. Message me?
One possible other option: I find a lot of links about mental health, a lot about music, art, culture etc, a lot about media and journalism, a lot of weird quirky stuff … How would you feel about a four-or-five-times-a-week newsletter, shorter and with fewer links than the Sunday Supplement, each one focusing on a different area?
OK. I do have something else to ask you about, but that’s further down the page. So shall we press on?
Something to listen to while you read
RIP Marianne Faithfull. Turn this up loud
What went right this week
Scotland’s rewilders blazed a trail, hundreds of firms adopted a four-day week, and a mountain was granted rights, plus more good news from the good people at Positive News
On with the Good Stuff!
Thank goodness January's finally over, and we can enjoy St Brigid’s Day, Candlemas and Imbolc
It’s time to finally declutter. Make this the year you create more space in your home, and mind (I'm going to be getting some help to do this, starting in a few weeks' time. I'll let you know how it goes on the Hello You podcast)
Do it because you WANT to, not because you think you HAVE to
'I think about how extraordinary it is when those … women pick themselves up following the violence of men; how they rebuild, find a way to move their lives on' - a remarkable interview with Holly Willoughby
Legacy media helped create the anti-trans moment. Now they're reporting on it
Well, this could be awkward ...
'I went to Kew Gardens – and found a place of safety after homelessness and drug addiction'
Yeah, it's probably time to panic
How to do winter garden jobs without harming wildlife
Who remembers the ‘horny profile’?
This is what it's come to now. Already. Bloody hell. (Also, tricky for those of us who might have our own reasons for searching for 'cute winter boots' ... *ahem*)
Tom Hanks likes typewriters. A lot
The boys’ club is back in business (this is not a good thing)
More of the good stuff in a moment, but first …
Hello You 84: Life is a Learning Curve
‘It’s the inner self that you need to take care of’
Jacqueline Porteous left school as soon as she could, with no qualifications … but with an unshakable belief in herself, and in the power of believing that what you want and need can be yours.
That’s taken her around the country, and back to her native Shropshire. It’s taken her from cleaning and factory work to the construction industry, driving huge vehicles, and onto Dragons’ Den.
And in her mid-sixties, she’s not finished yet!
Take a listen to this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. I hope you enjoy Jacqueline’s story … and if you’re looking to book a motivational speaker, maybe you can help her into the next chapter of her life?
‘It’s all about loving yourself first. You have to love yourself, and then go out and love other people too, by helping them’
You can find Jacqueline Porteous on Facebook. I’d love it if her first motivational-speaker gig came from a fellow member of the Hello You family.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, please share it with someone else who might enjoy it too?
Hello You is about people, stories and ‘the complexities of life’. To make sure you don’t miss anything, whether it’s an episode of the Hello You podcast or the Sunday Supplement, why not subscribe? If you really love what I do, you can take out a paid subscription (and I’d be very happy and grateful) but you don’t have to. Hello You will remain free for everyone, for ever. You might just help keep it - and me - going, though
OK, back to your weekly good-stuff round-up!
The London home of the man behind The Avengers, The Professionals and many other TV classics is up for sale. And it looks exactly as you think it might
Charlie Brown. Hopeless kite-flyer. Terrible baseball manager. Dog servant. But now, hitmaker!
‘The BBC is wrong to axe drama on Radio 3. Here’s why it matters’
The enemy is in your home (great piece which, among other things, gave me new respect for William Shatner)
'Unless we can agree that the sky outside is blue and the grass is green, we have no chance'
Look, I know you know this stuff, but you might know people who don't. So this will help them wise up. On a basic level, DEI promotes the fair treatment of all individuals, but it’s more than that
Radical Traditional: Folk music for winter
Treat People With Kindness: The story behind the song
Be honest. You don't give two shits how your email finds them
Looking for low-bandwidth news?
Betwixt and Between: An Imbolc incantation
So, the other thing I need your help with …
In two weeks’ time, I’ll be made redundant from the BBC. I’m sixty-two years old, there’s no way I can afford to retire and more importantly I like doing stuff that makes a positive difference, using my skills and abilities to try to make the world a better place.
This Substack - home to Hello You the Shropshire podcast, this newsletter, and whatever else I might create in the future - will be crucial to me continuing to do what I do.
So I want to welcome more members into the Hello You family. Could you help me?
If you appreciate what I do, if you feel it brings something to your life, you probably know at least one other person who’d also enjoy Hello You. You know who ‘gets’ you. You know gets it. That’s the person, the one you’re thinking of right now, that I’d like to join us around the Hello You kitchen table.
Could you have a chat with that person? Email them, message them, forward them this newsletter or whatever, tell them about Hello You and suggest they subscribe?
Subscribing is free. I’m not asking you to shake down your mates, I’d just like to have more people like you around me. Being truthful, I’m more than a little anxious about the future - as, I know, are many of us - and things are easier to deal with when you have good people around you.
(I also offer paid subscriptions, but this isn’t a pitch for those. They do very much help to keep Hello You going, though, and to keep me going, too. If you really dig what I do and you’re in a position to pay for a subscription, I’d love it if you signed up.)
Thank you for being a member of the Hello You family, whether it’s as a paid subscriber, or just as someone who reads this on Substack now and again. It means a lot to me that you’re there.
OK, back to the Sunday Supplement again!
If you read one thing this week, make it this
Would you know what to do if a young person you knew was suicidal?
Final Thought, à la Jerry Springer
Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope, even if you have to get out your phone, record that message, “I will not give into the lies. I will not give in to the fear.” Post it on your social media so people can hear from you too
How was that for you?
I hope you enjoyed the Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 22. If you have thoughts, questions, suggestions, whatever then leave a comment
I’m always glad to hear from you
I’d be thrilled if you could hit Like on this, or wherever you’ve found it, or both
Even better, why not become a Hello You family member by subscribing?
… and share Hello You with a friend, colleague or family member?
Thank you for being there
Take care of yourself, and take care of the people around you. I hope they’re taking care of you, too
