Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 1 (December 2019)

Please don't try this at home

One thing I've been hearing from people under lockdown is that they're struggling to concentrate, which is making reading something long like a novel difficult. Coupled with insomnia (which I know many of us are also struggling with at the moment) it's a classic symptom of anxiety.

I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be anxious, but there are online resources out there that will help you to manage it, including CBT and Mindfulness, so if it's really bad it might be worth giving them a go.

In the meantime, I'm bringing forward something I would normally do at the end of the year, which is to signpost you to great journalism and long reads in the hope that you'll find them interesting and informative, if not always escapist.

I started compiling entries for this years list back in December 2019, and now I've got four months worth of stories bookmarked, I've decided to provide you with a month by month list of what's caught my eye so far.

One of the big stories of last year was the Hong Kong protests and, in December, 1843 magazine published a piece by Eduardo Baptista which provided a tour of the city's protest graffiti.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism published a damning report on a particularly cruel aspect of the UK housing crisis.

With Christmas in mind, Wicked Leeks' Megan Tatum wrote about the role of food banks at Christmas.

Narratively published a fantastic read by Aram Balakjian about Gilbert Alaskadi, a boy from nowhere who went on to triumph in the Mr Universe competitions.

And, lastly for now, Nina Pullman over at Wicked Leeks provided a thoughtful piece on the thorny topic of how to be a sustainable vegan.

Image by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash