HAPPY NEW YEAR!
to one and all!
Spiritual Treasure
- Malcolm Guite on the astonishing Thomas Hardy poem, The Darkling Thrush.With gorgeous image by Linda Richardson.
- Fascinating take on the late, extraordinary Desmond Tutu from Giles Fraser. Still chewing on the egotism point.
- Very striking from my boss Paul Windsor on confronting poverty.
- Paul Kingsnorth is one of those must-read writers (in June map last year). Very good here on Christmas in secular world
- Justin Taylor lines up a bombastic and insecure Mark Driscoll sermon alongside Francis Schaeffer and Jim Packer. Salutary.
- Dr Johnson was such a lad. Brilliant line here about the fabulously wealthy Lord Scarsdale, who lived at Keddlestone Hall, below.
Topical Treasure
- 2021: The year we gave up on reality – important and scary from Suzanne Moore
- I rather love Maria Popova’s The Marginalian (formerly known as Brain Pickings): here she tells its story it’s reliably interesting and surprising
- The Geographical Pivot of History? controversial and too generalised but fascinating nonetheless
- Why we don’t hear about the Ozone Hole anymore…
- The Italian man of letters, Italo Calvino’s 1950 New Year’s resolution to worry less
Quirky Treasure
- Max Beerbohm and Edmund Gosse take turns to take the mick out of Henry James. Genius
- A morsel of evidence (as if further evidence was needed) of Mozart’s genius: a double mirror canon.
- Do you want to know what a hedgehog looks like when getting an X-Ray? (HT TwistedSifter)
- The perks of being a wildlife photographer (HT TwistedSifter)
- Absolutely love some of these rooms
- If and when it’s permissible again, here are some helpful tourism tips from European locals
- Love this Beach and Stone art from the very talented (not to mention patient) Jon Foreman.
- I’d no idea – another string to the bow of Stephen Sondheim’s genius was a love of cryptic crosswords. Which actually figures if you know anything about his lyrics.
