Happy Friday!

People I have not had a fantastic week, but from 5pm today, I’m on holiday, which I really, really need!

This week, I managed a post every day except Sunday. You may have noticed but over the last two Saturday’s, I’ve had short posts about things that I’m loving/finding useful. They aren’t long posts and I’m not being paid to recommend them or anything, I’m just finding them useful and/or good and I thought it would be good to share. This week was all about my new love of the nightdress, just as the weather broke, but it’s back to being stupidly hot so still useful. Monday Miscellany, on Tuesday I was all about granita, the usual allotment post on Wednesday and a July goal recap yesterday!

Here are this week’s links….

This has been getting lots of mentions, I don’t read Goop, I’m never going to steam my vagina but I found this fascinating nethertheless. How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million. Also funny….

Charles to treat palace visitors to his 70th birthday pick and mix. Including a cloak of Napoleon’s. Of course Charles likes/admires/whatever Napoleon, who was an emperor not a republican, he rose in the first republic then seized power in a military coup and proclaimed himself emperor. He wasn’t a fan of existing monarchies but he had no issue with overthrowing them and installing his own. Would his brother Jerome been better or worse as a king that our ‘fat friend’ George IV, it’s debatable…

Mesut Özil reminds us why minorities have more than one identity. I’ve always said that assimilation in the UK is harder for black and other people who can’t just blend in once the language barrier is gone. There is a double standard here, in the way that second generation white immigrants can do this without having their loyalty to Britain questioned. I got really mad in 2012 and very time after that someone described Mo Farrah as an immigrant but not Bradley Wiggins (for the record because it bears repeating. Both Farah and Wiggins were born abroad and have one British parent. Both came to Britain as children and lived with their British parent. Neither are immigrants.) Sarah, Tom and I were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. Sarah and I have some Irish heritage and Tom is Irish but committed to being in England at least as long as he is raising his daughter and he’s been pondering how or whether he needs to instill ‘Irishness’ in her.  I have a fairly strong position on this, I like Ireland and am entitled, with some arsing about, to an Irish passport, but I don’t feel Irish because fundamentally, I’m not. My dad was occasionally very insightful and made the point that Britain was where he was born, had paid his taxes, where he lived, been  educated and where he had more freedom religiously and socially than any of his Irish relatives did. He felt and I agree that there was a danger in feeling closer to “your country of heritage” than you did to the one you live in. This danger is seen in the way that Özil allowed himself to be used by Erdogan (you can be proud of your country and heritage and not supportive of dictators in your country of heritage). I also feel that proclaiming myself Irish is pretty insulting to my Irish relatives that did not grow up with the freedoms and privileges that I did. I would imagine that goes more when your country of heritage is poorer than the one you grew up in.

Universities want ‘bums on seats’ because you created a market, minister. Politicians who don’t understand the potential impact of the policies they create…

No bosses, no managers: the truth behind the ‘flat hierarchy’ facade

Don’t call it a wholphin: first sighting of rare whale-dolphin hybrid

Why aren’t British workers calling in sick. For me, it’s because I can work from home. Last year when I sprained my ankle and couldn’t walk for a week, I didn’t take any time off because I worked from home, if I couldn’t have, I’d have been off sick!

Wuthering Heights is a masterpiece of literary genius that is incredibly unpleasant to read. Of the Bronte’s, I’d pick Anne over Charlotte or Emily. And if you say that Wuthering Heights is your favourite book, I will judge

Create a Brexit-ready food cupboard? Many can’t afford their next meal

BBC’s Today programme sheds 800,000 listeners. I blame Sarah Sands…

So Jeremy Hunt is the Tories’ capable one? Let’s look at the evidence …

Middle-aged non-drinkers may have ‘higher risk’ of dementia. Finally some good news….

Somebody at Fitbit needs a lesson on the menstrual cycle. Good point, well made. The tracker also doesn’t let you alter stuff like ovulation date, which I generally know is happening.