The Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 24
Your weekly guide to the good stuff. Lots to read this week. Hope you enjoy it!
Hello, you. How’re you doing?
The weather’s grim. The world seems even more grim. You need something to lift you, something to divert and entertain you and perhaps shine a different light on something you’ve been thinking about.
Here y’go. This is the Hello You Sunday Supplement, and that’s exactly what I try to bring you every Sunday morning. I hope it at least stops you doomscrolling for a while.
But first: why not become a member of the Hello You family by subscribing, if you haven’t already? Get your knees under Hello You virtual kitchen table, you’re very welcome around it:
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Starting off, as usual, with …
Something to listen to while you read
Nine minutes of pure joy. Bruce Springsteen rehearses and arranges the E Street Band in front of a stadium full of people, then blows them away with the result
What went right this week
The world got 31 new ‘wetland cities’, beavers saved Czech taxpayers £1m, and a UK city mooted a basic income scheme, plus more good news from the good people at Positive News
OK then, on with the Good Stuff!
Radio: A century old, and still essential
‘Knitting is a lifeline’: Young people turn to craft to cast off gloom
Linking people and place through sound
'Dear future me': How to challenge negative thoughts
The value of playing the long game (great piece on the importance of local journalism done well, and the impact it can have)
Glenn Gould: virtuoso, Canadian, genius, eccentric, hypochondriac ... style icon
Amongst total media madness, it feels good to simply write some words
Taking a left turn: Leftism turns thirty
Place names are political (this stuff is just deranged; was it this nuts when Shropshire changed to Salop and back again?)
Cardiff University has settled the BBC bias argument once and for all
‘The real reason I never got married’
An esteemed auction house has a really stupid idea
Your boss says they care about your well-being, but that’s only true if they prioritise these four things
The university that became a sanctuary for hope
More of the good stuff in a moment, but first …
Hello You 86: You've Just Got To Follow the Thing You Love
From teacher to actor, from Shropshire to Ireland and India
Shropshire native Joanna Purslow spent twenty years as a primary school teacher in Shrewsbury. Then she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a professional actor. Hear her story in this episode of Hello You, the Shropshire podcast.
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!
I don't use Google search anymore. Here's why
All aboard for a bus tour of 1970s England
Every woman knows there is nothing new about this knuckle-trailing Cro-Magnon club
The hijab: symbol of piety, a bringer of joy, a target of prejudice
Public-service media are under attack everywhere. They have been for years, but now no-one's even pretending anymore
Diversity on the naughty step
Guy Marshall accommodates an abundance of antiques in his Shropshire cottage
When the mask slips, you can see exactly what's happening
Why is the whole world shopping at Shein?
Look, here’s a good rule: If a 30-something man with flavoured-vape vocal fry dressed like a professional snowboarder tells you that crypto is good a way to make friends, you need to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction
How to be an LGBTQ+ ally in the workplace (this is becoming increasingly important)
If you read one thing this week, make it this
‘Make the calls. Send the texts. Solidify the plans. Now, while you still can’
A quick question for you …
I need your thoughts on this. My ideas notebook is absolutely bulging with the names of brilliant people I want to introduce to you on Hello You the Shropshire podcast, and with suggestions of places I can go to sit on benches and record random conversations for future episodes of Hello You. Trouble is, at the rate of one episode a week, I’ve already got enough ideas to keep me going into the summer. So I’d like to know what you think of this idea:
Two episodes of Hello You the Shropshire podcast every week
How would you feel about that? You’d also get the weekly Sunday Supplement newsletter, and additional soundscape episodes from time to time. Might it even tempt you to take out a paid subscription?
Tell me what you think? Leave a comment, or message me direct:
Final Thought, à la Jerry Springer
The most valuable currency we have in 2025 is our attention. We have to take it back
How was that for you?
I hope you enjoyed the Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 24. 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?
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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
