Friday Pix: Recommended Reading For The Weekend

Every Friday I point you towards some recommended reading around the blogosphere:

1. If you own a hand-held device (and these days, I think most of us do), then Roger Cohen’s New Year’s screed against our addiction to BlackBerries and the like  in the International Herald Tribune is a must-read for us all.

2. Further to yesterday’s post on Margaret Thatcher as a role model for women in the UK, here’s an interesting debate in the Guardian among British female journalists as to whether – and in what sense – Thatcher remains a feminist icon. (Hat tip: @suziparker)

3. If you’re curious about how the English education system works – and what’s wrong with it – then I heartily recommend that you read Side by Side: On Britain’s School Wars, Stefan Collini’s review in The Nation of Melissa Benn’s latest book. Riveting, disturbing and spot on, especially for those of us living this issue day to day.

4. And over on the other side of the pond, Paul Tough’s profile of Dominic Randolph in a September issue of The New York Times Magazine – which treats the broader issue of whether our kids would succeed more if we let them fail more – is equally thought-provoking. (Yes, I was *that* far behind on my autumn reading!)

5. Finally, in the LMAO category, I leave you with the video, Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls. Thanks, Steph!

Have a great weekend!