Rattle Bag

Something for the weekend

'The Travelling Companions', 1862, by the unimprovably named Augustus Leopold Egg (via Ruth Millington).

Thanks for the many nice comments on last week’s piece and for all the shares. Welcome new joiners: here’s your pass, the kitchen’s there, The Ruffian likes its tea with milk, one sugar.

No big thoughts today, just a rattlebag of smaller ones (rattlebag: an assortment of small objects; also the name of that poetry anthology we’ve all got somewhere at home).

In the bag today: a brilliant new film; a newly discovered podcast I love; what Dostoevsky tells us about altruism; a new skill we all need to learn; why the meaning of life can be found in an Abba song; why you should be wrong more often; good news on crime; and whether Glenn Gould was a genius or not. Oh, and given it’s Thanksgiving over there, some reasons to be thankful.

This is for paid subscribers only, but listen, dear free reader, that could be you. Join us, it’s fun here, we have bean bags and a nap room.