Happy Friday! I hope you’re all as happy to get to Friday as I am! Here are this week’s links…

1) This, all of this. I’m am not a mother but I can have an opinion on parenting.

2) Harry Baker did another TED talk. Full disclosure, his parents are friends of mine, so I might be slightly biased, but they did a good job with both of their boys.

3) Lucy Mangan on poverty and bad choices, and Hilary Mantel. Right about both although my favourite Mantel novel is A Place of Greater Safety, which lead both Ma and me on a French Revolution reading bender and which you should go and read if you haven’t already!

4) Gin Craze. I can’t help but feel this guy is well behind the times, but interesting nonetheless.

5) People having to share rooms because the rent is too high. I’m horrified but not surprised.

6) What where you live in London says about you. So funny….especially about Clapham

7) Katie Price and means tested benefits. Just for this:

It is the beginning of the decision that says benefits are not an entitlement but something up for debate that can be chipped away at until they completely disappear.

8) Zoe Williams and the rhetoric around benefits and poverty. I know I keep banging on about it but it’s an important point and worth making until people start to understand and vote accordingly!