There were a lot of people on Twitter saying April Fools should be ‘cancelled’ this year.
My position on it is that as long as it’s kept light-hearted and harmless, then it’s a great distraction for us all. There’ve been all sorts of other jokes out there to keep spirits up, people don’t seem to take issue with any other form of comedy, and yet for some reason people have written off today – it’s a shame.
(I’m sure most people will disagree with me, that’s fine, we’re all allowed an opinion.)
Anyway, disappointingly it looks like nearly everyone has erred on the side of caution; this is all I’ve found:
In this time of self-isolation itโs important for people to stay active at home ๐ช
To help, weโre delighted that our Ravenmaster is now the Tower's official resident RAVE MASTER, getting the nation moving with a new series of dance fitness videos coming soon ๐ฅ Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/5V0hEJF6EA
— The Tower of London (@TowerOfLondon) April 1, 2020
— ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฌ (@MancPictures) March 31, 2020
Not great in quality or quantity, but respect to them for giving it a go!
Let’s hope that this time next year life is back to normal and we can enjoy this properly.
UPDATE: things found after the midday deadline
HUGE news – today we're excited to unveil our plans to launch a Crystal Maze designed exclusively for cats ๐ It's a purrr-fect day out for you and your furry friend – who's in? pic.twitter.com/yOXBI0r4UD
— The Crystal Maze LIVE Experience (@CrystalMazeHQ) April 1, 2020
We are using this quiet period to service our vehicles, including topping up the blue lights pic.twitter.com/g8ArsRCN2S
— UK Fire & Medical Services Ltd (@fire_medical) April 1, 2020
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Don is just a really likeable character (possibly moreso because the books are written in the first person from his perspective). By this book he and Rosie have been married for over a decade and have a 10 year old son, Hudson. Don has a lot of things he’s learned about social interaction, rules and patterns to keep an eye out for to understand things he might otherwise struggle with.
Early in the book there’s a suggestion from the school that Hudson may be autistic and that they should look into having him tested. Don is not keen on this, but the comment has also been made about him. He leaves his job to focus on Hudson, to try and achieve various targets (numbered, of course) to help him to fit in.
A lot of the book questions autism stereotypes, as well as educating neurotypicals in ways they can better help those with autism feel comfortable – one being checking if their preference is to be referred to as ‘autistic’ or ‘person with autism’! There’s definitely a message in the book about how we always think of ‘unable to feel empathy’ as a symptom of autism, but rarely do neurotypical people have much empathy for them – definitely a few challenges thrown in, which is helpful.
I’ve made this sound like a heavy book, it’s not. It’s funny, warm, and interesting! There’s also a whole plot with Don opening a bar given his interest and skill in cocktail making – it’s an easy read, just has a good message to share along with it.
It’s a long and weird week, there’s been a lot of time on the internet and a lot of stuff on the internet, so sorry if this is a bit long! Obviously there’s a lot linked to Coronavirus, but I’ve tried to make sure the majority is humorous, or good advice, rather than miserable or stressful, though the occasional may have slipped in, sorry. Now you see why I do this consolidating in one place, rather than sharing and retweeting all this as the week goes!
“This is Going to Hurt” has been an absolute sensation and after reading it in 2018, when I saw that a short (142 pages) Christmas follow-up was coming out I was very excited to read it. I got it for my dad for Christmas as his career was in the NHS and he’d also loved the first one, and I’ve now borrowed it back from him! (Thanks Dad!)
There isn’t much to add to what I said about the first book (if you haven’t read that, I would read that first, just for a bit more context), it’s just a great insight into the reality of life in the NHS, a few highs – mainly lows of course, but told in a humour that means it’s an entertaining read.
My favourite thing about this was a footnote in the introduction:
“In mt first book, “This is Going to Hurt”, the most common reasons for entries being omitted included ‘too disgusting’ or ‘too Christmassy’. Here I make amends for both.”
If that doesn’t make you want to read it – nothing will!
I remember this book coming out when I was a teenager, I remember loads of people reading it, but I never heard what it was about and never got around to reading it myself. With the coming of the new series from the BBC, I thought I’d finally give it a go, so got myself a copy off eBay and flew through it!
The basic premise is a divided society, where black people (Crosses) have all the power, and white people (noughts) are the downtrodden and oppressed in society. Callum is a nought teenage boy and Sephy is a Cross teenage girl. When they were kids, Callum’s mum worked at Sephy’s house and so they were friends, but as he is one of the first noughts allowed into a Cross school, their friendship is tested. Things progress from there as a group of noughts are trying to form an uprising. It’s a little bit Romeo and Juliet in its nature.
The chapters are narrated alternating between Callum and Sephy, and the book itself covers a few years, so things change a lot, but it’s told really well and keeps you extremely gripped. Technically it won an award for children’s fiction, but it’s definitely not suitable for young children, and the new BBC series based on it is airing at 9pm – there’s plenty of darkness in it!
I’m watching the first episode of the TV series as I write this, so won’t comment on that here other than to say it seems quite different so far!
There is a reason that on the front of this book is a recommendation from Barack Obama, and on the back, from Bill & Melinda Gates. It’s a very good, and very important book. I’d already heard of Hans from his TED talks, if you’re interested, some of his most viewed ones are at the bottom of the page.
We have a tendency to refer to the developed and developing world, but really the world is divided into more than these two categories, it’s more complicated. He gives us four levels, levels one and four are what we’d traditionally refer to as the first and third world, but this is the minority of the worlds population, he tells us that about five billion people actually live on levels two and three, maybe they have a camping stove to cook on rather than a fire, maybe a moped rather than getting everywhere on foot. He gives a thorough explanation of these levels, more than I can here, along with photos to help cement the idea. You can find a large selection of these on their Dollar Street website.
The subtitle is: “Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think.” Hans takes us through ten instincts we all have about the world, which are outdated, or were never the case at all. For example, the gap instinct, that the world is divided into the rich and poor and that there is no one in the middle, which as explained above is not the case at all, in fact, the majority are in the middle. Or that just because things are bad, it doesn’t mean they’re not improving; things can be bad but better than they were.
The book is filled with these really interesting ideas, and each chapter ends with a helpful summary page, highlighting what the issue with the instinct is, and tips to avoid it, which I’m sure I’ll be referring back to!
I have folded down so many pages of this book that I won’t list all the quotes here, but along with that I already have a queue of people to borrow my copy! I normally really struggle with non fiction and would expect this to take a good few months, but it was only 2.5 weeks! While it’s a data-y book, it’s got graphs (his favourite is here, and a live animated version like those in the videos below, you can play with on their Gapminder website) and things to help understand, and is written in a conversational style, full of anecdotes, and is very easy to read.
I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in the state of our world, and facts to back that up, as well as those just wanting to be able to assess information they receive better.
ineke.co.uk 