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IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
The book Don’t Ask Alice purported to be the real-life story of a young girl addicted to drugs. But none of it was true.
(The New Yorker, approx 17 mins reading time)
The narrator is unidentified, too. She is not named Alice; the book’s title, chosen by a savvy publishing employee, comes indirectly from a reference in the diary to “Alice in Wonderland” and more directly from the lyrics of the Jefferson Airplane song “White Rabbit.” Early entries dutifully record the nothing-everythings of teen-age life. The narrator frets over diets and dates; wishes she could “melt into the blaaaa-ness of the universe” when a boy stands her up; and describes high school as “the loneliest, coldest place in the world.” She’s from a middle-class, overtly Christian, ostensibly good family, with two younger siblings, a stay-at-home mother, and an academic father whose work takes the family to another state.
In this audio ‘longread’, a look at what happened when a crude oil tanker sent out a distress call about stowaways.
(The Guardian, approx 28 mins listening time)
By mid afternoon, coastguard helicopters were circling over the ship, and by about 7pm, there was a full-scale military operation. Suddenly, a story that should have been about the asylum claims of seven desperate stowaways had been recast as a national security incident. Behind the political posturing and the media commotion, however, there remained seven men looking for a new start in life.
A man named Glen McCurley strangled a young woman in 1974, but was she his only victim?
(Texas Monthly, approx 41 mins reading time)
He seemed to be a good man leading a quiet life. One woman had even sent a letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram praising him and Judy for returning her lost wallet. “The world needs more folks like this,” she wrote. But detectives had developed an entirely different perspective on McCurley. They had compelling evidence that he was responsible for the notorious unsolved murder of a teenage girl in 1974. And they suspected that wasn’t McCurley’s only heinous crime. They considered him a “person of interest” in at least three other killings of young women during the seventies and eighties.
Is there an ‘exercise gap’ between the genders, and if so, why?
(Women’s Health Magazine, approx 6 mins reading time)
A Gyms and swimming pools can also be intimidating places – I know from experience. I find it daunting to go to these places as a relative novice and a beginner, someone who is not very fit and cannot pound the treadmill or do countless miles in the pool. Unless you have the right clothes, and the right body, it is very easy to feel like an outsider. And this lack of inclusion – in activewear design, and the culture that has developed in some of the gyms and pools- can lead to not only embarrassment but also lack of motivation to go to the gym, go running or swimming.
A look at the actor Bruce Willis’s career, and how his roles in later life might have contributed to his aphasia going unnoticed on set.
(Vulture, approx 13 mins reading time)
Over time, though, Willis started moving away from the thoughtful Everyman action hero he had incarnated in Die Hard and toward more retrograde macho-man roles. The Die Hard sequels were far more typical of the era’s R-rated action blockbusters, stressing McClane’s sour cynicism and lethal skills instead of his humanity. It was hard to tell if Willis was trying to put Moonlighting even further in the rearview mirror, if the stone-faced-killer parts spoke to some need in him as an actor, or if he was just doing the thing he knew audiences would pay to see.
The story behind the 1968 episode of Star Trek where the late Nichelle Nichols kissed William Shatner, in the first onscreen kiss between a Black woman and white man on US television.
(The Conversation, approx 5 mins reading time)
The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lt. Uhura and Capt. Kirk to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on. The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a Black woman kissing a white man was a daring move.
…AND ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES…
Love Island finished up last week. (We took a look at it for this week’s The Explainer podcast). Here’s a story from Vanity Fair in about the many controversies that have dogged the show.
(Vanity Fair, approx 28 mins reading time)
On the season four premiere of Love Island, an effervescent Flack arrived with an engagement ring, which the islanders oohed over. The next season, Flack’s diamond was gone. Though her success grew as the show’s did—she was able to renegotiate her contract every season—at 40, her colleague says, “She was desperate. Desperate to settle down, desperate to find the right person. It just didn’t happen. I don’t think she had the emotional makeup to deal with a grown-up relationship.” Love Island made Flack’s fame, and the attendant interest in her personal life, explode. It was the perfect match.
Note: The Journal generally selects stories that are not paywalled, but some might not be accessible if you have exceeded your free article limit on the site in question.
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What about if they worked a bit harder, less holidays, longer hours? Just like the rest of us
@Paddy: Our constitution says we need one for every 20/30000 citizens
@Tom: we should have a referendum to change the number of TD’s in The Dail. There are far too many already and with the increase there’ll be another 14 freeloaders ie. teachers, publicans & landlords!
@Tom: Change the constitution far too many TDS already
@DJ D: How many of those categories are TDs?
@Tom: We need to change the constitution to allow a lower ratio of TD’s per person as we have too many as it is. One TD per 50k people is more than sufficient
@Tom: can u tell us what size of classrooms should teachers teach???
@Paddy: that’s asking a lot now,you obviously didn’t see the effect that had when Eamon Ryan do a few extra hours
@Tom: so change it to 50,000
Maybe that’s a decision for their employers, IE,the taxpayers
@Brian molloy: The same when it comes to wage increases
@Brian molloy: Changing the ratio would be a change in the constitution which needs a referendum.
@Keith Tobin:
TDs haven’t been able to set their own salary for more than a decade, it’s linked to public sector pay.
“Something has to give” of course something will give, our young people will have to emigrate in there thousands again soon enough……crisis averted
@Tom: exactly
@Tom: they don’t care. Any amount of people will come from less well off countries will come for a wage. TDs could care less if everyone under 25 left. It’s not about building society its about milking what’s there dry.
@Tom:
CSO figure say that more Irish people are returning than are leaving
Increase Garda numbers , nurses, Doctors ,,,,TD should stand for Total Disgrace.
Let’s be honest TDs don’t run this country Civil Servants do. This country needs more doctors, nurses, teachers, prisons, Gardai, carers, and son on. The last thing this country needs right now is more TDs.
More money down the drain and more waffle sickening
Maybe stop our population from increasing with illegal immigrants and look after our own – just a thought that would never occur to our supposed representatives.
@Thomas Sheridan:
We need more immigration, who do you think is going to build the housing we need?
@P.J. Nolan: Not many of the recently arrived immigrants, I suspect. Certainly far less than the number of them looking for state accommodation.
@P.J. Nolan: Not too many Ukrainians building house for us, even though they have work visas. Only ones working are working at night. Great addition to the country.
Who decides on these constraints figures 1td/30000 .Sure only half of the people vote most of the time anyway so its nearer 1td/15000.No other country would put up that kind of largesse.
@Willie Marty: The ratio is set out in the constitution.
@Gareth: needs changing to bring it into line with our European partners
We have enough TDs don’t need any more spongen of the taxpayers
The same with the number or Gardai, Nurses, Teachers, Doctors, Army personnel, hospital beds etc etc etc!!
Taking what the commission said into account, the amount if tds will increase. But here lies the problem, county borders. What we have now is a Dublin, Cork, Galway and now limerick tearing away from the rest of the country with jobs, investment, housing, road, and just about everything else. Rural problems are not being tackled, hence mass amount of young people moving to the big 4 cities. Where the government said they were going to tackled this ,the opposite has happened. Maggie Thatcher politics or should I say Tory politics being employed by FF and FG won’t mention greens as they are clueless. Its stands out.
@james hennessy: rural Ireland is over populated, no point in throwing good money after bad.
@james hennessy: Could you please explain a bit more the “Rural problems are not being tackled” part?
I live in the city and honestly want to hear it.
@james hennessy: ‘Big Cities’ ? – there is still a boreen between Cork/Limerick/Waterford – The further from the pale is the further from investment.
There’s more pressing things needed than TDs. More housing is needed. More doctors and nurses. Even more hospitals are needed. Sligo university hosp has to cover a massive area that is far too vast for one hospital. Government need to cop themselves on. Enough is enough now.
@Helen O REGAN: This is the Constitution, not the Government.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: time to change it so more important things than fat cats yaping in the dail and little or nothing being done they’ve had over TEN years with an overwhelming massive housing crisis, not good enough they’re supposed to be making decisions thinking and planning long term solutions it’s getting worse and has been for too long kicking the can down the road with lame excuses and passing blame they were put into power to run the country not line they’re pockets with massive salaries and expenses which they are there no denying that
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: it would appear the constitution is in need of drastic change as tds are surplus to requirements, not fit for purpose and a complete drain on society. However I’m interested in hearing one benefit a td is to the public, the tax paid & paying public that is.
Good excuse to raise tax to pay their wages
No more School Teacher’s, Doctors, Tree Huggers or Anyone taking the verbally P Should be Allowed to Stand. WE See How this Doesn’t Work for The People!!!
@Mick Hanna: Don’t vote for them, but banning people from standing in election is the compleye antithesis of democracy.
Like it or not, this is democracy. The alternative isn’t worth thinking about. Although there are some gombeens on here who seem to think democracy is a joke and something to throw away. Probably don’t even vote because they’ll put the X in the wrong place.
Personally, I think change the Constitution. In fact, every hundred years they should change it to reflect society.
1 TD for every 20/30,000 citizens is too low. Why not increase it to 40k given the ongoing increase in population.
Increased population because of all our friend who are shipped in
Just replace TD’s whith chatGPT. Or if we need an increase in TD’s reduce their wages and expenses inline.
Up here for thinking
So obviously they are not up to the job. Sorry but we knew that already.
One wonders how the likes of Jim O Callaghan TD and Barrister manages to be in the dail, and also be a successful barrister down the four courts?
TDs can’t be doing much if that’s the case.
I’ve e mailed his secretary a few times to ask, but never got an answer.
the number of tax lines on our payslips needs review as we can’t keep pace with the crazy accelerated cost of living.
If they done a bit of work they would have a better chance of keeping pace sack all of them
Is it right to say the UK has 104k / MP(650 mps)?
If ireland had those numbers, then ireland would need 2256 TDs per the constitution. So what should we change?
@Padhraig Farrell: Really? 100k per TD = 10 TD’s per million population.
That would mean -51- TD’s by the current 5,056,935, correct?
They need to get their fingers out of their preverbal and do some work! No more swine in the trough ! We don’t get enough return on investment!
Why dont some of the clever clogs on here with a the answers tun for election, plenty seats to contest, even new constituencies. But of course that would actually mean doing something Instead of being angry behind a keyboard and criticize everything and everybody, which is easy
have your say