
The Writing Revolution.
By Judith Hochman & Natalie Wexler. It is quite an incredible read, packed with very, very useful approaches to writing. My thoughts can be fon the pedagogy part of the website, here. Including a video talk-through of the ideas and a discussion of their real-world application.


Den of Thieves, James Stewart
A good case study for a new lesson... Firstly- what is insider trading? Can you give some examples? 1. Just how easy it was (is?) To get away with insider trading. 2. Most seem to have been caught by greed, unable to limit their crimes to just a few mild wins that nobody would notice and be unable to generate any patterns from 3. The media, rather than law enforcement (via the SEC investigations which many involved seemed to laugh off), seemed to be able to score hits against


The Skripal Files, Mark Urban
Notes on the book follow... KGB/FSB and GRU are different. KGB was the government/civilian spy agency dealing with internal affairs. GRU was military intelligence. GRU proved tougher to infiltrate. The GRU maintained (maintains) a network of sleeper agents, ranging from 4 - "dozens" in NATO nations. They live normal lives and have no contact with the Russians - except in times of war. When the core diplomatic and spy staff are expelled, these agents are activated and take ove


Amsterdam
A very brief summary of the history of the city and other observations while we visited in the summer 2022. 1. Weed is actually illegal, officially, but it is taxed. They have a word which Translates into "looking the other way", this has long been the city's creed - that so long as you are not causing any hassle you can get away with most things. This led to their tolerant nature, hosting numerous groups that fled persecution during the centuries. Including Jews and various