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. Chicken shite

The latest Noteworthy investigation raises serious concerns about the cross-border litter trade – including unauthorised storage or dumping of it.

(Noteworthy, approx 27 mins reading time)

Poultry manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and is a powerful fertiliser, used for compost in the mushroom industry and landspreading on tillage and vegetable farms to encourage crop growth. However, there is a downside to the production of such quantities of litter that can cause environmental and human health risks, such as water, air and soil pollution, spread of antimicrobial residues, and respiratory issues.

2. The women who built grunge

There were lots of amazing female-led bands during the grunge era – is it time to reassess their legacy?

(Longreads, approx 22 mins reading time)

While the alternative and grunge scene of the early to mid-’90s celebrated opposition to the mainstream, it was also a very white, very male scene that downplayed the significant contributions of artists who didn’t fit that description. Female bands like 7 Year Bitch and Babes in Toyland sold significantly fewer records than their male counterparts, generated fewer bidding wars, and received less press. When not ignored, women were objectified by the media and marginalized by an industry that treated them like a fad, promoting only a handful of female musicians and only for a brief period. 

3. The world needs uncles, too

Isaac Fitzgerald doesn’t want to have children of his own, but here he writes about how he cares for children who are in his life.

(Esquire, approx 16 mins reading time)

My own parents were married when they had me, just to different people, meaning that my mere existence definitely complicated things for both of them. The list goes on. The end result is that I’m not having kids, no matter how many people tell me—as they did when I was a teenager, in my early twenties, late twenties, thirties, and still now, as I approach 40—”Oh, you just wait. You’ll be a father soon.” Simply stated, for a plethora of reasons, from emotional to financial, raising another human being full-time is not for me.

4. Hair transplants in Istanbul

A look at how Istanbul became the global capital of the hair transplant. 

(GQ, approx 18 mins reading time)

Then a few things changed. One day, standing in a check-out line, I looked up at the security camera TV and saw a bald guy standing at the cash register. Then I realized that the bald guy was me. I had never seen the top of my head from that bird’s eye perspective; my self-image aged a decade. Compounding this anxiety, a year earlier, I had surgery on the top of my scalp to remove some basal cell skin cancer. The important thing is that they nipped the cancer in the bud and I’m perfectly healthy. But it left a scar where hair refuses to grow. This, coupled with my new insecurity, inflamed my desire to get my old hair back—a drive for revenge against time.

5. She wanted an abortion, now she has twins

The story of a teenage girl in Texas who got pregnant and wanted an abortion – but couldn’t get one, and gave birth to twins.

(The Washington Post, approx 20 mins reading time)

Sometimes Brooke imagined her life if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, and if Texas hadn’t banned abortion just days after she decided that she wanted one. She would have been in school, rushing from class to her shift at Texas Roadhouse, eyes on a real estate license that would finally get her out of Corpus Christi. She pictured an apartment in Austin and enough money for a trip to Hawaii, where she would swim with dolphins in water so clear she could see her toes.

6. In love for 50 years

A sweet story about a couple who met and had a holiday romance in Greece – and are still together 50 years on.

(CNN, approx 10 mins reading time)

While Haris and Sura were enjoying one another’s company, neither saw the relationship as more than a vacation fling. This was crystallized the following week when Haris went off to the Greek islands with a friend of his, hoping to flirt with tourists. This was something of a tradition for the two friends, they’d catch the ferry to Mykonos or Kos or Corfu for a few days each summer. Even though he’d met Sura, Haris decided to go anyway. “When he left, I just kept going out with the friends,” says Sura. “And then I started seeing one of his friends.”

… AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…

This 2021 article takes a look inside Boris Johnson’s ‘money network’.

(FT, approx 17 mins reading time)

Where Johnson, notoriously tight but always short of cash, has a tortured relationship with money, Elliot revels in connections with the wealthy. While Johnson’s personal finances have grabbed the headlines, his friend Elliot has quietly transformed the party’s money culture, bringing aspects of Quintessentially’s model, so that ever-larger cash donations bring ever-greater access to the heart of government. It is a model that will be crucial to Johnson’s ongoing political success. As the prime minister eyes the next election, which must be held by 2024, he needs Elliot to keep delivering.

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.