Sacred Treasure
- Thabiti Anyabwile has some wisdom to bear on the thorny issue of those who say ‘the church hurt’ them
- My good friend Ziya Meral wrote this over 5 years ago – but it needs frequent revisiting: Bearing the Silence of God.
- A New Sincerity – this is a great piece in response to the barrage of deconstructionist cynicism around us (HT Frankie)
- Interesting reflections on the demise of Exodus International.
- Life’s regrets in the departure lounge
Topical Treasure
- Simply superb analysis of the publicity/privacy debate post-NSA revelations by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker
- If you’re worried about the implications of NSA snooping, this might be just the antidote
- Haunting photos of Deep South segregation in the 1950s by Gordon Parks.
- In contrast, some heartwarming images from the Turkish protests last month. And here are some others, portraying the wonderful protest by reading. Spot how much Orwell is out there.
- Many of you know that I’m working on the culture of suspicion and conspiracy theories at the moment. If you want to get a sense of what it’s like to deal with some of this stuff, this little clip will give you a pretty good idea (esp from around 3’30”). Intriguingly, Aaronovitch later tweeted that Jones was completely calm and stable once they stopped filming (ie all an act).
Quirky Treasure
- This has to be the best newspaper apology of all time (right)
- If you’re not a cricket fan, you’ll probably not really appreciate this. But here is Aggers on the receiving end of Jonners’ revenge scheme: he is interviewing Fred Trueman and Jack Bannister who spend 15 minutes refusing to answer the question. It was never going to be aired, but Aggers was the only one not in the know.
- The dangers of faulty scientific logic: Sir Edward Appleton on the power of soda water.
- Some quirky historical photos in Britain
- London in motion – an animated visualisation of Oyster card (Transport for London electronic tickets) swipes. Rush hour has never looked so beautiful:
- Why widescreen is the only way to watch movies: