Great piece! Appreciate the much-needed nuance you bring to the topic. I would add another skill to your list, which goes back far further than the Greeks, etc.: collaboration, relationships. Humans have survived this long because we know how to work and play together.

So reminiscent of Kante.

Great idea! I usually have fiction and non-fiction going on at the same time, fiction (at the moment mostly short stories and flash anthologies) before bed, and non-fiction audiobooks during cooking, ironing and workouts.

What a delightfully weird story! The anguish of involuntary childlessness, desperation, and the willingness to do whatever it takes, including...

I remember it! Great fun, definitely worth a listen!

Looking forward!

We fight back by buying Russian oil and gas.

For me it's imagining the absolute carnage and stench that must have been the norm every single day (as described in detail in the Mishnah/Talmud). Never mind the notion that it pleaseth the creator of the universe. Apparently Succoth was a ball, though.

I think it’s one of those evolutionary things we haven’t got past. There is evidence protohumans hunted in rivers and lakes by throwing bails of fragrant bait to each other to lure large mammals into the water, which they subsequently bludgeoned and ate from for weeks (more research required).

I love football, but international football is its own beast. The quality is never as high as club football, and if, like me, you don’t have strong patriotic sentiments, it just makes you impatient for the Premiere League to start again. Also, club football doesn't usually evoke quiet nice feelings.