The Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 2

A big bunch o' links for your weekend delectation

Hello, you. How’re you doing?

Here’s something for you. I hope you like it.

I know you’re intelligent and thoughtful, and you enjoy having interesting things to read. Also, you may not be able to face either politics or cooking on TV on a Sunday morning, and you’ve long since given up buying a Sunday newspaper because you no longer have the core strength to lift one.

Nevertheless, you have a good cup of coffee in one hand, and you’d like something diverting and engaging to read in the other.

For you, then, here are some links to pieces I’ve seen recently that I think you’ll dig. If you do, share them with other people. Quite a few are from fellow Substack creators, who’d be grateful if you hit ‘Like’ on their pages, or even subscribed to their publications.

I’d be grateful, too. If you find this interesting, 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 one of these linkfests, why not subscribe?

This is only Issue 2, so your feedback is very welcome:

OK then, here’s this week’s selection, as always trying to balance helpful insight on the big stories with interesting, quirky stuff you may not have seen:

Links to make your life lovelier and better informed

First, something to listen to while you read. Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes died last week. Uber-cool vinyl label Mukatsuku compiled this sequence of his music on Mixcloud as a tribute. It’s perfect to have playing while you drink your Sunday morning coffee

What went right this week: the good news that matters - Biodiversity hotspots offered hope for conservationists, a fresh approach to homelessness showed promise in England, and hyperloop travel came to Europe, plus more good news

One of the top talking points of the week: Some pensioners are pretty well off. But how many can afford to lose the winter fuel payment?

‘I Quit My Job and F*cked Off to Australia in My Thirties’

Birmingham was once the bicycle capital of the world

Was this hermit mathematician a forgotten genius, or a lonely madman?

Sometimes you need people to unpick the implications of a massive story, so you can understand what’s going on. These links on Grenfell make really tough reading, but there’s important stuff in here:

• No shit, Sherlock: Avoiding man-made disasters like Grenfell could be helped by holding executives more accountable

• The first two or three paragraphs of this are enough to provoke a visceral reaction

• What the Grenfell report gets wrong

‘I have a 'room of one's own'. Now I just need to tidy it’

Mind blown: Matching sets of dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean

‘I first faced racist abuse at primary school’

Time to tackle the somewhat deranged elephant in the global room:

• The USA has gone batshit insane

• Suicide by meme

• Is the press ‘sanewashing’ Trump?

And that leads us nicely into the journalism links, starting with a story that suggests batshit insanity may not be exclusive to the USA:

• Let them eat butter

• The National Trust bit back at the Daily Mail’s ‘vegan backlash’ story and it was truly scrumptious

But seriously, folks …

• Journalist says her newsroom's standards could be higher. Management's response: 'You're fired.'

• Why has Paul Marshall paid £100 million for The Spectator? It's not because he finds Toby Young hilarious

• Apparently, local opinion journalism 'serves civic discourse and democracy'. Maybe in America, but have you seen the op-eds in any of our local papers in the last, ooh, twenty years?!

A seamless segue from the weekly 'Journalism' section to the weekly 'AI Is Shit' section:

• An AI Bot Named James Has Taken My Old Job

• How it started: ESPN Masks Cynical AI Pivot As Benevolent Coverage Of “Underserved” Sports

• How it’s going: ESPN's AI Fumble: How Robot Recaps Missed Alex Morgan's Final Match

Sorry for the downers. Time for some positivity palate-clearers?

Visible mending is a creative approach to repairing worn or damaged clothing

Following that thread: Every sequin tells a story

Brief, related cross-promotional interlude

Talking of mending and repairing things: Fancy a chat? Share your thoughts or tell me your story next Saturday morning at Shrewsbury’s Repair Café!

I’ll be recording for my #Shropshire podcast Hello You at the United Reformed Church hall from 11am on Saturday 21st, and I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Come and say hello (you)?

And now, back to some uplifting links:

Could this show a positive, natural way forward for flood management in Shropshire? Natural Flood Management uses nature to hold off floods

A Navy SEAL, an astronaut and a doctor walk into a bar …

Instrumental Archaeology, Issue 8: The Bagpipes

Meanwhile, in the Extremely Online World:

• My new favourite social media platform Bluesky grew by 50 percent over the past week, with most new users based in Brazil

• Oh, and here’s one reason why: Racism, misogyny, lies - how did X/Twitter become so full of hatred? And is it ethical to keep using it?

• Don’t worry, you can quit: How to leave Twitter

• Pomfret, Vermont: The fall foliage town that banned influencers

Go on. You know you want to. And it does you good!

Off to the movies:

• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice celebrates the enduring appeal of being a goth girl – and introduces the goth mum (splendid!)

• Do you have to have seen the first film to get it, though? 'I Watched ‘Beetlejuice’ for the First Time. I Have Questions - 14 of Them.'

There are ghost signs. And then there’s this ghost sign

Medical clowns reduce stress & shorten hospital stays for children (your mileage may vary, as the Americans say)

Having some ‘me time’? Good call. As is having an afternoon nap, it turns out (yay!)

This week’s slightly surprising cute-creatures contribution

And finally: I can attest to this - the struggle is real

How was that for you?

Thank you for reading the Hello You Sunday Supplement. What worked for you, and what didn’t? Please leave a comment or message me?

If you’ve enjoyed it, please click Like at the top or bottom of this post, and share it with your friends?

Gratuitous cross-promotion

If you enjoyed this email, you'll like my Hello You podcast, too.

It's about stuff. And things. Shropshire and Shrewsbury. Mental health and wellbeing, heritage, journalism, faith and belief, media, art and the complexities of life. Catch every episode of Hello You by subscribing on Substack

… or on Spotify (here’s the latest episode, if you want to check it out)

… or Apple Podcasts (with the most recent five episodes at the top)

And tell your friends?

Thanks for being there

Have a lovely Sunday, or if things aren’t great for you at the moment, the best Sunday you possibly can in the circumstances.

Take care of yourself, and take care of the people around you. I hope they’re taking care of you, too.