Culture, Gardens, Homes, Magazines, Travel

Country Life Magazine – January 15, 2025 Preview

January 14, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (January 14, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Totally Tropical’ – The gardens of Tresco, where anything grows…

Totally tropical taste

Tiffany Daneff savours the exotic surroundings of Tresco Abbey Garden, where the temperate climate of the Isles of Scilly has created a colourful paradise

Box of tricks

The devastation of box blight is well documented, but what can we do to save our hedges? Charles Quest-Ritson investigates

Now that’s what I call pulling power

The ox may have disappeared from the fields of Britain, but that mighty beast of burden still plays a huge role in agriculture across the globe, finds Laura Parker

‘Make way for Her Majesty’s gloves!’

You’ve got to hand it to Cornelia James, suggests Katy Birchall, as she recounts the incredible rise to prominence of our late Queen’s favourite glove-maker

Amie Atkinson’s favourite painting

The actress selects a heavenly landscape that has fired her imagination since childhood

The legacy

Tiffany Daneff pays tribute to Beth Chatto, whose ‘right plant, right place’ philosophy inspired her Essex dry garden

Top seats

The best chairs and benches for the garden, with Amelia Thorpe

Cool schools

Non Morris taps into the expert knowledge of Troy Scott-Smith, Charles Dowding and Tom Stuart-Smith as she digs into some of Britain’s best garden courses

Town versus Earl

John Goodall charts the history of The Lord Leycester and its outstanding medieval buildings in Warwickshire that have been given a whole new lease of life

See you on the top deck

To celebrate the centenary of London’s covered double-decker bus, Rob Crossan hops aboard for a whistle-stop tour of our capital’s public transport

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell keeps her cool with a sparkling selection of jewellery inspired by ice

Interiors

Arabella Youens admires a sitting room in London and Amelia Thorpe answers the call of the wild with animal accessories

Kitchen garden cook

Earthy leeks take centre stage in winter for Melanie Johnson

Be still, my beating art

An obsession with Emma, Lady Hamilton led painter George Romney to produce his finest pieces, reveals Carla Passino

Culture, Journals, Opinion, Science, Technology

Culture: The New Atlantis Journal – Winter 2025

January 14, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW ATLANTIS JOURNAL (January 14, 2025): The latest issue features…

The New Control Society

The gatekeepers are dying. Why is everything so mid?

We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It

Introducing “How the System Works,” a series on the hidden mechanisms that support modern life

The Tyranny of Now

There’s no time like the present to revisit the warning of forgotten media theorist Harold Innis: “Enormous improvements in communication have made understanding more difficult.”

Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

The Nation Magazine – February 2025 Preview

January 14, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NATION MAGAZINE (January 14, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Jazz Off The Record’ – In the late 1960s, the recording industry lost interest in America’s greatest art form. But in a small, dark club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, jazz legends were playing the …

A Tale of Two Presidents

Remembering Carter as we steel ourselves for Trump’s second inauguration.

The Political Economy of Trumpism

Though he started by threatening Mexico, Canada, and China, Trump’s tariffs mean the US will drain Europe as Ukraine fades.

The Media Is Giving Away Its Rights Even Before Trump Tries to Take Them

Recent events have shown that Trump does not have to impose a new regime of censorship if the press censors itself first.

The Nation’s Early Experiments in Jazz

When the magazine began covering jazz in the 1920s, it often struggled to catch the beat.

News, Opinion, Podcasts, Politics

News: Ceasefire Deal In Gaza, Impeachment Trial Begins In South Korea

January 14, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

MONOCLE RADIO (January 14, 2025): The impeachment trial for South Korea’s embattled president, Yoon Suk Yeol, gets under way with the first hearings in Seoul. Also on the programme: Pope Francis’s biography is published and leaders of Nato’s Baltic nations talk defence.

Then: has there been a “breakthrough” in a deal between Israel and Hamas? Plus: the life and legacy of Italy’s Oliviero Toscani, the photographer behind shock Benetton ads.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics, Uncategorized

The New York Times – Tuesday, January 14, 2025

January 14, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Once the Fires Are Out, California Must Remove Tons of Dangerous Debris

Clearing the toxic remnants of burned buildings around Los Angeles will require a complex and expensive mobilization. California has been there before.

This Is Where the Palisades Fire Started

In the hills above Pacific Palisades, there is crime scene tape and scattered debris, clues to what may have caused the initial fire that eventually raged through thousands of structures.

Biden Aides Warned Putin as Russia’s Shadow War Threatened Air Disaster

The White House scrambled to get a message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last year after U.S. intelligence agencies said a Russian military unit was preparing to send explosive packages on cargo planes.

Battles Rage Inside Russia, With Waves of Tanks, Drones and North Koreans

Ukrainian soldiers are describing fierce clashes as Russian forces try to retake territory in the Kursk region that could be key in eventual cease-fire talks.

Magazines, Opinion, Politics

Politics: Dissent Magazine —- Winter 2025 Preview

January 13, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

DISSENT MAGAZINE (January 13, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The End of the Biden Era….

A Party Out of Touch

Without confronting the economic conditions that gave rise to right-wing populism, the Harris campaign could not meaningfully address a deepening crisis of liberal democracy.

Wendy Brown

Toward a Revival of Left Populism

Michael Kazin

Exit Right

Gabriel Winant

Europe Can’t “Trump-Proof” Itself

Hans Kundnani

A Fractured Coalition

Alyssa Battistoni, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Aziz Rana, Timothy Shenk and Patrick Iber

Housing for All

Nature Magazine: Top New Science Books Of 2025

January 13, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

SCIENCE MAGAZINE (January 13, 2025): Pictograms, comics and other illustrations: Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.

What the Body Knows

John Trowsdale Yale Univ. Press (2024)

To understand the body, “we might picture the heart as a pump, the brain as a kind of computer, the lungs as bellows, the kidney as filters”. But what about the immune system — asks immunologist John Trowsdale in his engaging analysis. It has no straightforward analogy, operating simultaneously as an antiviral software, a surveillance camera, a weapons system and a way to share resources. The system is “unobtrusive yet extensive, nowhere and everywhere, redundant yet essential, powerful yet remote”.

Wild Chocolate

Rowan Jacobsen Bloomsbury (2024)

When residue inside decorative pots from ancient Mexico was analysed, it yielded traces of cacao — early evidence of cocoa consumption. The Spanish word chocolate might have been influenced by the Nahuatl (Aztec) cacahuatl, or cacao water. Journalist Rowan Jacobsen’s appealing book explores wild chocolate’s history as he travels through Central and South America, meeting chocolate makers, activists and Indigenous leaders who revive the bean’s variety in taste and prestige, lost during its modern industrial manufacture.

Talking Images

Eds Silvia Ferrara et al. Routledge (2024)

The logo of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games was a figure with a red dot ‘head’, blue ‘body’ and single, straight green ‘leg’ — adapted from the Chinese character zhi, meaning ‘birth, life’, ‘arrival’ and ‘achievement’. It is one of a huge variety of “talking images” in a collection edited by three scholars interested in writing. Images range from Palaeolithic symbols and ancient Mesopotamian pictograms to modern Chinese calligraphy and Indian comics. The book traces links between images, marks, language and writing.

Do Plants Know Math?

Stéphane Douady et al. Princeton Univ. Press (2024)

Arts & Literature, Magazines, Opinion, Politics

The New Yorker Magazine – January 20, 2025 Issue

January 13, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are sworn in.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE (January 13, 2025): Barry Blitt’s “Two’s a Crowd” – Elon Musk takes center stage.

The Inauguration of Trump’s Oligarchy

Certain business titans have made Mar-a-Lago a scene of such flagrant self-abnegation, ring-kissing, and genuflection that it would embarrass a medieval Pope. By David Remnick

Image may contain Book Comics Publication People Person Adult Face Head Art Clothing Formal Wear and Suit

Lorne Michaels Is the Real Star of “Saturday Night Live”

He’s ruled with absolute power for five decades, forever adding to his list of oracular pronouncements—about producing TV, making comedy, and living the good life. By Susan Morrison

How Religious Schools Became a Billion-Dollar Drain on Public Education

A nationwide movement has funnelled taxpayer money to private institutions, eroding the separation between church and state. By Alec MacGillis

News, Opinion, Podcasts, Politics

News: Election Results In Croatia, Iran Nuclear Talks Begin In Geneva

Audio January 13, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

MONOCLE RADIO (January 13, 2025): Presidential election results are announced in Zagreb and nuclear talks between the UK, Germany, France and Iran kick off in Geneva. Then: show me the mooney! We investigate the future of lunar investment. Plus: master of wine Patrick Schmitt serves up the latest news for oenophiles.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

The New York Times – Monday, January 13, 2025

January 13, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Before Taking Office, L.A.’s Mayor Said She Would Not Go Abroad

Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles has been criticized for being out of the country when the wildfires broke out. Three years ago, she promised in an interview to cut back on her world travel and focus on the city.

Despite Trump’s Attacks, Republicans Made Big Gains in Mail Voting

As Republican voters embraced a practice that Donald J. Trump railed against for years, softening his tone only slightly in 2024, the party eroded a key Democratic advantage across the country.