Six Essential Weekend Reads: From Spudfluencers to Digital Detox
Looking for something captivating to read this weekend? We've curated six of the most fascinating stories from the past seven days, covering everything from culinary trends and urban reconstruction to cybercrime and social inequality. These pieces offer deep insights into contemporary culture, politics, and human experience.
1. The Humble Jacket Potato's Remarkable Comeback
One of Britain's most unexpected fast food trends in recent years has been the influencer-driven resurgence of the baked potato. This classic street food, once considered simple and unglamorous, is now being championed by a new generation of spudfluencers who are determined to make jacket potatoes fashionable again. Sammy Gecsoyler explores how these social media personalities are spreading what they call the starchy gospel, transforming perceptions of this traditional British dish and creating a genuine culinary movement.
2. Aleppo's Daunting Reconstruction Challenge
For five millennia, Aleppo stood as a great metropolis at the heart of a region stretching from the Mediterranean shores to modern-day Iraq. The Syrian city prospered as a vital trade hub and manufacturing centre, enduring invasions, plagues, and natural disasters while maintaining its distinctive character. Today, following the devastating civil war, nearly two-thirds of Aleppo lies in ruins. The destruction is so extensive that clearing the rubble alone will take years, raising profound questions about whether this historic city can ever return to its former glory.
3. Wunmi Mosaku's Journey from Manchester to Hollywood
British actor Wunmi Mosaku, who grew up on a Manchester council estate, has achieved stratospheric success with her pivotal role in the vampire sensation Sinners. Fresh from receiving an Oscar nomination this week, Mosaku previously discussed her journey from Britain to Los Angeles with Lanre Bakare, revealing how a simple £30 bus trip changed the trajectory of her life and career. The actor also shared her thoughts on returning to the UK, with one notable condition: I'm not playing a cop.
4. Finland's Biggest Ever Criminal Investigation
In October 2020, Finland experienced its largest known crime when therapy notes from every patient in a national database were published online for global access. The perpetrator, who called himself an untouchable hacker god, uploaded comprehensive patient records just before ransom emails began arriving in thousands of inboxes. Journalist Jenny Kleeman spent eighteen months investigating this unprecedented breach, culminating in what she describes as one of the most chilling conversations of her career. The investigation raises troubling questions about whether motives beyond mere financial gain drove this devastating cyberattack.
5. Mumbai's Controversial Coastal Motorway
Mumbai, a city known for extreme inequality with ninety Indian billionaires and over six million slum dwellers, now has a new symbol of the divide between rich and poor. An eight-lane, high-speed coastal motorway on the city's western coast has drawn sharp criticism for primarily serving wealthy residents despite being funded by taxpayers' money. In a city where most people rely on crowded buses and trains, this infrastructure project represents what critics call a massive transfer of wealth to the rich while imposing significant costs on the broader population.
6. Living Analogue in a Digital World
Journalist Emma Russell embarked on a month-long experiment to discover whether living lo-fi in our hi-tech world could improve wellbeing. She swapped her smartphone for a basic Nokia, consulted physical copies of books and newspapers, and navigated London using a traditional A-Z map. Her experience raises important questions about digital dependency, mental health, and whether stepping back from constant connectivity can genuinely make people healthier, happier, or simply more stressed in today's technology-driven society.
These six stories offer diverse perspectives on contemporary issues, from food culture and urban planning to technology and social justice. Each provides thoughtful commentary on the complex challenges and surprising developments shaping our world today.
