Latest Reflections
Should we follow the wisdom of the crowds or critics. How to choose your next book
Luba Kassova | August 30, 2024
A note of gratitude: I am deeply grateful to Richard Addy and Hannan Rais for compiling the database of 100 books with all rankings/ratings as well as producing the graphs used in this essay. There are numerous best book lists knocking about to...
Why does the feeling of being at fault travel so easily between generations of women
Luba Kassova | August 14, 2024
My heart is gripped listening to Gracie Abrams’ song Unsteady from her 2023 Good Riddance album. “…I should be cool, but I panic Out of the blue and I end up on the ground Weaker all around.” ...
Learn from Ronaldo… cry “like a little girl”
Luba Kassova | July 11, 2024
A lot has been said recently about Cristiano Ronaldo breaking down in inconsolable tears after missing a penalty, following a disappointingly mediocre performance during his country’s game against Slovenia at the Euros. And it’s been not all...
Ten tips for engaging Gen Z in general election news coverage
Luba Kassova | June 19, 2024
A few days ago, my 13-year-old son was reading The Week, a weekly news round up magazine, when, after spending less than half an hour with it, he closed it ceremoniously and proclaimed that he was done. “The only articles left are the boring politics...
The quietly raging war inside me
Luba Kassova | May 26, 2024
Inside me there is a war quietly raging. A war between a dictator and a loving rebel. The dictator is sitting on a heavy oak throne. He was born many generations ago and his raison d’être is to “protect me”. But he holds me captive...
Being kind is not being a p*ssy. It’s being human
Luba Kassova | April 30, 2024
I am addicted to Suits at the moment (I don’t know how I missed it when it came out, but I did). Its Shakespearean-style modern storytelling, filled with power struggles, betrayal, passion, love, hate, abandonment, quick-witted dialogue, tribal...
The underused art of asking questions in the era of polarisation
Luba Kassova | April 10, 2024
This article was first published in Bulgarian in offnews.bg How well do we know the people closest to us, their hopes, deepest fears, dreams, most vivid memories? And why does this matter, you may think? In our increasingly polarised and distrustful...
Why do we abuse our bodies for charity?
Luba Kassova | March 20, 2024
Last week, many of us Britons were immensely proud of Mollie King, a much-liked BBC Radio 1 presenter, who raised more than a million pounds for Comic Relief by completing a gruelling 500 km cycle, despite having no previous long-distance cycling...
To IWD or not to IWD. Why ditching International Women’s Day would hurt women
Luba Kassova | March 06, 2024
Every year in the run up to International Women’s Day on 8th March, part of the conversation on social media invariably turns to whether or not International Women’s Day (IWD) should be celebrated at all. It’s a remarkable and rare...
Holding on to our memories of love
Luba Kassova | February 13, 2024
Last weekend Richard and I ended up spending the whole of Saturday afternoon binging on all 13 episodes of the highly positively reviewed “One Day” Netflix series . Richard had been feeling poorly that day, one child had a friend over,...
