Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
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.
1. The murder of Sofyen Belamouadden
Five years ago, Sofyen Belamouadden was murdered in the busy Victoria Station in London. His mother recalls what happened to her beloved son.
(The Independent, approx 25 mins reading time, 5400 words)
What took place in the minutes that followed led to the largest murder investigation in the history of the Metropolitan Police. It resulted in 20 teenagers being charged with murder, the most ever charged over a single killing in Britain, and five trials lasting almost two years.
Monica Prata helps transgender women create their look, providing makeovers of their wardrobe and hair – but she also helps them communicate with their family, and is totally honest with her words.
(NY Mag, approx 15 mins reading time, 3093 words)
“Passable is kind of a dirty word. It’s not okay to impose upon somebody the idea that they need to look a certain way,” she’d told me earlier. “But if somebody comes to me and says, ‘I want to look and sound and talk completely like a woman,’ I’ll give them what they want.”
3. Wasting Time on the Internet
At the University of Pennsylvania, you can actually do a course in Wasting Time on the Internet. Here#s what to expect.
(Slate, approx 14 mins reading time, 2806 words)
Since “Wasting Time” lived in UPenn’s Creative Writing Program, kids were expected to do more than stew in Internet juices: They’d go home and transform their Facebook reveries into poetry and memoir, like Walter Benjamin delicately descending from a hashish high in order to produce works of surreal and trancelike beauty. But whether or not Internet ephemera can, in practice, be molded into meaningful art didn’t concern the critics.
It’s been an interesting five years for Ed Miliband, so Rafael Behr looks back at 2010 and brings us the Labour leader’s journey to present day.
(The Guardian, approx 37 mins reading time, 7455 words)
The battle to preserve the integrity of Miliband’s ideas would merge with the challenge of presenting the man himself as a candidate who might plausibly one day stand on the threshold of Downing Street, when his character and judgment were a topic of frequent ridicule. It was with some justification that he could declare, at his party’s manifesto launch this week, “I have been tested. It is right that I have been tested for the privilege of leading the country. I am ready.”
5. Katie Hopkins, media monster
We all know Katie Hopkins’ name – and that’s how she likes it. But how did the great student get to becoming one of the most hated women in Britain?
(Buzzfeed, approx 16 mins reading time, 3211 words)
People who knew Hopkins at the Stella Maris Catholic convent school in Bideford, Devon, say she was competitive, likeable, and above all driven – a word that crops up again and again. One woman who knew her at the age of 12 told BuzzFeed News that Hopkins was “very bright”, came from a “very ordinary family”, and was “popular and fun to be with”. Hopkins used to tease schoolmates who spoke in a posh accent, she said.
It might seem like months since Gamergate was such a huge thing, but did you know how it all began? With a jilted video game designer who wanted to get back at his ex…
(Boston Magazine, approx 25 mins reading time, 5000 words)
After their brief romance ended, she noted, Gjoni “wrote and published a long post about my sex life and private dealings to several websites that he knew had a history of harassing me.” Quinn is a video-game designer and, like many women in the business, routinely receives misogynistic threats from strangers.
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
Back in 2005, Sean O’Shea spoke about his time guarding a remarkable prisoner: Saddam Hussein.
(GQ, approx 31 mins reading time, 6377 words)
Sean could see him, through a small window in the cell door, sitting in his red plastic chair. The door was opened, and Saddam stood up. He was wearing a gray long-sleeve robe that fell to his ankles—a getup the guys would come to call a “mandress” —and dark leather sandals. He had a neatly trimmed black beard and a fresh haircut. He was taller than Sean expected, about six feet, and pretty solid for an old guy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
She’s a professional troll; she knows what she’s doing – and it only works because people give her coverage; The Journal included. So you’re part of the problem, Journal.
It’s the most concerted effort of slanted reporting I’ve seen in a long long time. Sarkeesian fans have disagreed out more than their fair share of death threats, but that’s “not of interest” apparently.
Katie Hopkins … I love the way people get outraged over her as is to say her opinion is the only one out there… It’s little wonder most of her ‘work’ appears in the ‘redtops’….
FFS! Hatie Hopkins and UK royal family stories… If I wanted to read the Daily Fail, I’d go to their website.
Yeah, but look at the most read item yesterday and so far this morning. Lots of people pretending they have no interest, but the meeja knows better.
Hi Daisy, the Sitdown Sunday feature links to 7 different long reads on a range of topics, on different websites. If the Katie Hopkins one doesn’t interest you – and I don’t expect everyone will want to read it – there will hopefully be something else you’d enjoy.
Cheers! Aoife
Ah yes, I remember now, the person who called people crossing the Mediterranean for a chance at a better life ‘cockroaches’ and in case this person let anyone in doubt finished it off with let’s machine gun them all on their boats,that’ll stop them. Wonderful.
Why is there am entire article on this person?
“Why is there am entire article on this person?”
Because people click on it – people like you.
A case is being brought to the attention of the ICC for hate speech by a group of lawyers in Britain which might get a hearing. If it does she will really be in the crapper and deservedly so. The perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide used the same description of their “enemies” in the media just before the massacres so Hopkins and what ever rag she writes for could be in serious trouble.
for someone who has no time for her you are going all in on this article chris.
Show me where I said I had no time for her. Point it out.
I highlighted the situation of her being a paid troll. I didn’t comment at all on whether I liked or, or have time for her or not. You just said I did – but it didn’t actually happen.
ah Chris you referring to her as “this person” I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest you have no time for her in fairness.
The perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide are in power today. The media did a great job of selling that lie. Kagame has been directly responsible for the deaths of 4 million alone in the Congo according to the UN. An evil man, yet glorified in the Western media. I would recommend the book the Politics of Genocide as a starting point.
I even read a piece on the42 Larry about football in Rwanda and the author, despite the many corrections by International Bodies and recent books showing otherwise, still believed the lie sold by the Western media.
Hopkins is like people on here who use multiple fake accounts to troll articles. Sad, lonely and craving so much attention that they don’t care whether it is positive or negative just so long as somebody is noticing them. They have problems with connecting with others on a real emotional level and probably hate their boring hum drum lives. By using an anonymous or non face to face means of communication they can use defense mechanisms much easier to dismiss their detractors. If it was a face to face communication they probably wouldn’t voice their opinion in the first place seeing as the know that their argument would be taken apart in seconds, It’s a sad way to live and hopefully Hopkins and those like her will get the help that they need.
You may be right on the trolls, but KH does it cuz she makes loads of dough doing it. I’d be pretty confident it’s all a persona and as long as people are interested, she’ll keep it up.
It’s not the same at all, Brian – because she’s getting paid to be a troll. And mainstream news outlets cover her too.
Way different to sad morons on here like ‘Top Cat’ who are just twitter trolls.
I would contend that they are all the same except that she is just lucky enough to get paid for it. Who knows, maybe she is on here all the time just as a hobby!
Brian are you describing yourself again ,” sad and lonely crave attention” , im sure you realise that the journal is an open forum and all are welcome to join in to post their views ,just because journalettes or journalads dont agree with your views or have different views to yourself it dont make them trolls ,i find your statement amusing in the sense that you actually hold yourself in such high regard ,that it comes across as if you see yourself as superior to a lot a people on here ,
Katie H is famous for saying the things many people think but would never have the courage to say, she gets paid a huge amount of money for being an absolute cow so she won’t be shutting her gob anytime soon.
I like trolls.
Trolls are more interesting than bores.
Trolls have imagination and creativity,
Trolls are freedom fighters against a politically correct totalitarianism.
Long live trolls.
A Buzzfeed article? If I ever find myself sitting down on a Sunday reading an article from Buzzfeed, I’ll know the jig is up..
Katie Hopkins is a complete fake, a second rate polemicist who likes to stir the shit for shock value.
Katie Hopkins is an Ugly Person.
Even if she had a face like Angelina Jolie (and she doesn’t) she’d still be ugly.
she plays the game and very well sometimes I agree with her ( fat lazy hoors who blame everything except the fact they are lazy) and other times she’s away with the fairies.
Easy targets Paul, and she is making a lot of money out of it. She has a big nose, I blame her parents genetics, she should get a nose job.
she’s a figure of fun really nobody really puts any notice on what she says .
true it’s like an elbow hanging out of her face.
She’s a straight shooter, no PC crap from her, je suis Katie.
Katie hopkins keep it up darling, people can’t handle the truth don’t mind the left wing loonies.
Monica Prata.
“Passable is kind of a dirty word. It’s not okay to impose upon somebody the idea that they need to look a certain way,” she’d told me earlier. “But if somebody comes to me and says, ‘I want to look and sound and talk completely like a woman,’ I’ll give them what they want.”
‘Look and sound completely like a woman’..but you can still see it’s a man a mile way’
There.
Fixed that for you Monica.
Or should I call you Mick.
I find saddam more interesting then hopkins
Saddam was the man
If the Journal didn’t keep posting about Hopkins I would never hear a thing about her. You’re part of the problem.
have your say