2. "It’s been a long time now since, at age 53, I became a woman." The inimitable Deirdre McCloskey of course. Happy? Sad? Honest, anyway. "My daughter still lives in the Midwest; she is married and has a child. I’ve told in Crossing about how, a year later, when she was still in college, I saw her that one time, very early in my transition, a weeping father in a dress begging for a hug. ... Her lone letter in reply said “Thanks for the money. I still don’t want you in my life.” ... My son lives not too far from me. He too won’t speak."
3. Pregnancy reduces criminal behaviour, both for the mother and the father. There is some great economics-speak at the link: "pregnancy reduces discount rates and gives men and women a reason to invest in human capital and work for the future." Also: people should get married and have children earlier.
4. On "liberalism" and liberal societies. Well put.
5. Abortion. Again, well put, I thought, which is quite a feat when the author is an American calmly and sympathetically putting forward both sides of the debate.
6. Rory Sutherland, the Wiki Man. "One avenue that is rarely explored is that a major cause of the rise of populism might be the journalists themselves, and the extent to which the once noble aim of impartiality has led to something ridiculous — where almost everyone in authority is treated as a liar. // For the past three decades, Britain has had centrist governments led by mainstream politicians. And in that period, did we find that journalists devoted much airtime and column inches to reporting this as a good thing? We did not." To be fair, we are always fighting the last war. The "why is this lying liar lying to me?" type of interview is a reaction against the "Prime Minister, is there anything you would like to say?" interview of yesteryear. But I think Sutherland's point is a good one: even if deference is dead, common sense, decency and a sense of proportion ought not to be. And there is a market for long interviews that are not all bash-bash-bash: see podcasts.
7. Cheer up everyone! It's not that bad.
8. More on what happened to New Atheism.
9. Is there a more predictably awkward social interaction than buying the Big Issue? This morning I walked past the vendor, aware that I had no change, then, appreciating that I did have a note, I walked back to him. I gave him £10 and asked if he had change. I'll see, he said. It was cold. He reached into his pocket and brought out a handful of pound coins. The Big Issue costs £3. I had already decided that I would pay £5. I could see that he had 6 £1 coins in his cold hand. He counted them into my gloved hand one by one. His breath condensed in great clouds as he counted the £1 coins. Three. Four. I waited. I took my £5, said thank you and walked away feeling like an idiot. Anyway all of that is just a prelude to this:
10. How humans and other modern animals would look if drawn from their skeletons in the same way dinosaurs are, if you see what I mean.
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