1. ’On disadvantage’ is a thoughtful blog post by Birmingham Teacher, a.k.a. Claire Stoneman https://birminghamteacher.wordpress.com/2022/07/17/on-disadvantage/

“But yes, the term ‘disadvantaged’ is rubbish. I don’t think any labels are helpful. Thankfully, when I was at school, I was not labelled. I could have been ‘Free school meals Claire Stoneman’ or ‘Disabled parents Claire Stoneman’ or ‘Young carer Claire Stoneman’. I am forever grateful to my school for not making assumptions about me, other than the assumption that I could and would achieve.”

2. Several good pieces from the Farnam Street Brain Food weekly newsletter:

i) The Two Types of Knowledge: The Max Planck/Chauffeur Test https://fs.blog/two-types-of-knowledge/ read it just for the ‘Munich lecture’ anecdote with which the piece begins, if you don’t already know it;

ii) an interview with Kunal Shah about Why choosing your friends matters https://youtu.be/I5uap-ZyHDQ

iii) an excerpt from “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol” https://core100.columbia.edu/article/excerpt-philosophy-andy-warhol “What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest.”

iv) “The Art of Being Alone” https://fs.blog/being-alone/ “Loneliness has more to do with our perceptions than how much company we have. It’s just as possible to be painfully lonely surrounded by people as it is to be content with little social contact.”

You can sign up for Brain Food here https://fs.blog/

3. Here’s the latest edition of a new weekly newsletter, The Knowledge, which begins with a wonderful video of the England women’s football team gate-crashing (and much enlivening) the post-match press conference after their victory over Germany on Sunday https://link.newsletters.theknowledge.com/view/62974659e2164fd11e0e2f3ch0dc6.k9g/dd6210bf

You can sign up for The Knowledge here https://www.theknowledge.com/

4. And, finally, this year’s Noirwich Crime Writing Festival runs from September https://noirwich.co.uk/

You can find recordings of all the previous two years’ events here https://noirwich.co.uk/catch-up-on-noirwich-2020/ Scroll down for a favourite of mine, David Peace, talking about his Tokyo trilogy.