Links I Liked

The World Economic Forum tweeted a rather silly list of ’14 things successful people do before breakfast’. Paul Kirby reckoned ‘The secret of success must be to have breakfast in the evening’. As for trying this at home, when I try and ‘spend quality time with my family’/’connect with my spouse’ before breakfast, they turn pretty nasty…….

Lots of great commentaries on the zeitgeist – people have obviously been thinking hard over Christmas:

Hope in the dark? Brian Levy sets out a path for how activism should respond to the not-so-brave new world

Fascinating, sensible and really insightful 45 minute BBC Radio 4 exploration by Jo Fidgen on the nature of ‘post truth’. [h/t Kate Raworth]

Brilliant timing: Alex Evans’ ‘The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough‘ out this week (here’s my review of the earlier online version)

‘Universal basic income is not a magic solution, but it could help millions’. And it has become more salient in light of the gig economy, automation etc

Portrait of a pandemic? How the world became obese over 40 years

I really hope DFID’s decision to cut its funding to Ethiopia’s Yegna (an NGO that uses music and radio to spread awareness about girls’ rights) was not to placate aid critics who caricatured them as ‘Ethiopia’s Spice Girls’ – it only encourages them. OK, I don’t speak Amharic, but this video suggest they are pretty great. [Update, Owen Barder says that’s exactly why they got their funding cut – depressing]