Hello lovely email friends, hope all is well with you. In the Nineties, any trip I took into London was an excuse to stock up at the little Anything Left-Handed shop on Brewer Street. The capital used to sustain a broad variety of small stores catering to specialist items; of course, almost all have now shut up shop and moved online.
But closing the physical specialist store and making left-handed whatnots highly available hasn’t led to me buying more; possibly the opposite. It wasn’t availability that made sales, but rather occasion: I had tied the act of going to London together with the headspace for whether I needed left-handed scissors, can-openers, drumsticks or whatnot.
All that to say, after many years, I’ve finally gotten around to getting myself a left-handed tape-measure, and it is everything I’d hoped it could be. For the first time, I can now hold a pencil in my left hand, the tape in my right, and the numbers are the right way up. Love it.
š¤¦āāļø Mad Men. Furious Women. I’m busting through my own don’t-link-to-Substack rule for this one. Five years ago, Kevin Roberts, the highly-celebrated CEO of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, stated in an interview that the debate about gender diversity in advertising was all over, and that women lacked ambition for top leadership roles. Not only did this end his time in that role, his outburst inadvertently highlighted just how serious the problem was. It would be nice to think the industry then rapidly cleaned up its act but, in fact, not much has improved. Far from dissipating, misogyny in adland has mutated into something insidious, invisible, lurking in the shadows. Now, strategist Zoe Scaman has taken it upon herself to fire up the floodlights.
š Meet the people who collect modernist houses: If this sounds familiar, it’s because it was in last week. Only this time, I’ve used the right link. [Thanks, AC!] Right so, just as some wealthy people collect cars, others amass architecture purely for pleasure. They go for buildings from the classic period of modernismā1925 to 1960āand despite being a century old, the style’s pioneering houses still represent an archetype of civilised living.
š An addiction model may actually explain tribalism, confirmation bias, and even conspiracy theories: And if we’re breaking the Substack boycott I may as well break the Twitter rule too: a thumping good thread on some of the possible manifestations of addictive behaviours. [Thanks, JL!] See also: A Twitter Addict Realises She Needs Rehab.
š 6 tools more powerful than to-do lists for productivity: Yeah to-do lists are cool, but certain tasks like long-term projects often fall through the cracks. Try this instead. See also: 5 Rituals for More Productive, Creative, and Resilient Teams.
š© 10 Commandments for Critical Thinking: First-rate chin-stroker Tom Chatfield asks what critical thinking is, and why it matters. Watch this ten commandments of critical thinking to find out how to become a better thinker.
š¤ Iceland’s shorter working week trial hailed as an overwhelming success: A long-running trial of a shorter working week in Iceland has indicated an improved wellbeing and work-life balance among workers, as people found it easier to do household errands and make more time for themselves, and that men took on more responsibilities around the house after the trial started, which helped to reduce stress at home. The trial resulted in the vast majority of the country’s workers securing contracts to shorten their hours. See also: 4-Day Workweeks Can Boost Happiness and Productivity.
š Recording the Layers of London’s Rich Heritage: Layers of London is a map-based history website developed by the Institute of Historical Research that brings together an important collection of digitised historic maps, photos and crowd-sourced histories provided by the public and key partners across London.
š Axed! Great cars cancelled at the last moment: Car-makers spend a fortune developing new models, but not all of them make it to the showroom. Some of these I was pretty certain I’ve driven past, but evidently not.
š§³ Mystery of the wheelie suitcase: how gender stereotypes held back the history of invention: Why have some brilliant innovationsāfrom rolling luggage to electric carsātaken so long to come to market? This work of excellence in The Guardian argues that macho culture has a lot to answer for.
š¬ Movie Posters Collection: The Harry Ransom Center, the archive/museum of the University of Texas, has a massive stockpile of items related to the world of cinema and television, and has now digitised and shared more than 10,000 movie posters for free. As rabbit-holes go, this one runs deep.