The Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 3

Your weekly signpost to the good stuff!

Hello, you. How’re you doing?

Welcome to the Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 3

(Now we’ve got as far as Issue 3, I think I can dispense with the slightly tentative introduction to this weekly newsletter, so here’s a somewhat snappier summary:)

A lot of social media’s gone to cock. Algorithms have flattened everything so it’s harder to find stuff to read that’s worth your time. Our newsfeeds are just a slop conduit serving us rubbish and nonsense.

Hence the Hello You Sunday Supplement. It’s a weekly delivery of links to articles that I think you’ll find interesting to read whilst enjoying your Sunday morning coffee.

If this newsletter hits the spot for you, please hit the Like button or little heart symbol, and share it with your friends using the convenient buttons provided?

And 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?

A policy of continual improvement

That’s the phrase manufacturers use to warn you that as soon as you find a product you like, they’re going to screw around with it. (What was wrong with headphone sockets, anyway?)

Here at the Hello You World Headquarters, I’m always trying to improve what I do. Often from a fairly low base where there’s nowhere to go but up. In the case of the Sunday Supplement, I’m now planning each issue so there’s a better spread of items about different topics. And rather than just flinging them on the page, I’ll group them together under subject headings.

Also, following the warm reception* given to last week’s ‘something to listen to while you read’, there’ll be Something To Listen To at the top of every weekly newsletter.

So, if you want to go straight to the Quirky section or the Analysis pieces, if you’re heading for the Journalism links, the Environment coverage or the perennial How Shit Is AI? department, just scroll down and look for what you need. Once you’ve started the Something To Listen To playing, obv.

*One, count ‘em, one email.

OK, let’s get to it. Your feedback is always welcome, there are buttons you can click on towards the foot of the page. And share the hell out of anything you really like?

Something to listen to while you read

Mark Beesley, of Shrewsbury DJ crew 2 Kilos of Funk, brings you the best of LA's SOLAR (Sound Of LA) Records. 90 minutes of top-notch soul, disco, funk and boogie.

News, starting with the good stuff from Positive News

The ‘best’ 15-minute cities were revealed, there was hope for coral reefs, and psychedelics appeared to relieve ‘existential distress’, plus much more good news

Why aren't more men talking about this?

Related: Sexual predators are surrounded by social scaffolding. Men: where on the spectrum are you? And are you willing to intervene? Images from We Level Up:

Data shows 123,000 households, containing 302,000 children, are trapped in poor housing and extreme poverty

Religious groups are ‘spending billions to counter gender-equality education’

Analysis

How does ethnic violence start, and how does it spread? Who uses it, and for what purpose?

‘You cannot learn lived experience; you go through it.’

‘Our hearts are so much bigger than we’ve been told they are’ - We are not as cruel as we are made out to be

Mind and brain, mental health and wellbeing

This week's episode of my podcast Hello You includes an interview with Samaa al-Moussalli which touches on the impact of trauma on cognitive skills. That's the main focus of the book The Body Keeps the Score

Talking of response to trauma: We can’t mitigate harm done to others if we’re hurting too much ourselves

Arts and crafts may support wellbeing even more than having a job

Folk, tradition, history and heritage

Whatever the word 'folk' conjures up in your mind, I bet it's not the work of the brilliant Lucy Wright

Here’s what Lucy has to say about the difference between folk and tradition

You might not think folk is necessarily your thing, but believe me, it could be. It’s definitely mine, and Shrewsbury Folk Festival is on my calendar every year. Listen here to for an audio glimpse of it. But I found the folk scene somewhat impenetrable when I started getting into it. Things are changing, though, and people are thinking about how to make folk more friendly

Unfortunately, this made some culture-warriors shit themselves

Gratuitous cross-promotion interlude

My Shrewsbury-based podcast Hello You is about people, stories and ‘the complexities of life’. Catch every episode of Hello You by subscribing  on Substack 

Or follow me on Spotify 

or Apple Podcasts 

And tell your friends?

Environment

For many in the UK, 2024 was the year without a butterfly

Quirky

Emma Kennedy's Lego Shed (which sounds like a racehorse named by Chris Morris, but is actually something rather lovely)

Media and journalism

Something in media to give us hope right now (and bloody hell, do we need it …)

If you're working in local media or journalism THIS IS ESSENTIAL READING. It's *packed* with great ideas, and pointers towards a different way of working. Your boss will probably hate it. Fuck 'em. This is what people should be doing, and this is how it's done: How The Jersey Bee uses journalism to improve public health

Social media, aka The Big World O’ Crazy

Tell us something we don’t know

It’s easy to find misinformation on social media. It’s even easier on X

But things aren’t all bad. Your new favourite TV show might be the TikTok feed from Mohawk Chevrolet

How Shit is AI?

Microsoft’s Copilot AI falsely accused court reporter of crimes he covered

Hitler speeches that appear to be AI-generated are getting millions of views on TikTok

Music

A Fridge Full of Memories: Saying goodbye to a Shrewsbury legend

The forgotten song that made the Beach Boys cool again

Final Thought, à la Jerry Springer

We all make choices. A good piece about what happens, and what can happen, depending on those choices

How was that for you?

I hope you enjoyed the Hello You Sunday Supplement Issue 3. If you have thoughts, questions, suggestions then leave a comment

And I’m always glad to hear from you

Once again, I’d be thrilled beyond words if you could hit Like on this, or wherever you’ve found it, or both. And my joy would be complete if you would subscribe

… 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.