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- The Know Daily - Friday 16 February 2024
The Know Daily - Friday 16 February 2024
💌 The headlines, culture recs, a quiz + lots more
Esther Hurst
February 16, 2024
Read in 5m 46s ∙ Listening to Joy Crookes ∙ Share us to your socials ☝️
Happy Friday!
It’s Lynn here, excited to be bringing you today’s newsletter. In addition to the usual roundup of the week’s headlines and recs for things to watch and listen to, you’ll also find a collection of our favourite things written about platonic love.
For obvious reasons, the Instagram algorithm has been pushing grand displays of (usually romantic) affection hard this week. But as wonderful as romantic love is, it isn’t the only kind worth celebrating. For me personally, female friendships play such an important role in my life. They give me compassion, wisdom and laughter - and a safe harbour during the tricker times, too.
Consider this your reminder to text a friend or loved one, and tell them just how much you appreciate them.
Love,
Lynn x
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UK NEWS
🗳 Labour dealt a “double blow” to the Conservatives on Thursday, overturning big majorities to win by-elections in Wellingborough and Kingswood. In other by-election news, Labour withdrew support for its candidate Azhar Ali in Rochdale over “controversial comments” he made about the 7 October attacks on Israel.
💸 The UK officially entered recession on Thursday, although forecasters do not expect it to cause “major changes” to consumers’ day-to-day lives and spending.
🌊 The River Mersey was described as “the greatest river recovery in Europe” after a record number of species were found to live there.
🐟 IT'S OFFISHIAL: THERE'S PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE MER-SEA! 🐟
🌊 Once considered biologically dead, the Mersey has been described as Europe's greatest river recovery.
🐠 An impressive 45 species of fish were found by @MerseyRivers last year.
— Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram (@LCRMayor)
Feb 15, 2024
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
🌎 NATO accused Donald Trump of undermining the basis of the Western military alliance, after he told a campaign rally that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to members who do not pay their fair share.
🗞️ Australia, Canada and New Zealand yesterday warned Israel against carrying out a ground offensive on Rafah in Gaza, saying “there is simply nowhere else for civilians to go”.
🇮🇩 Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in Indonesia’s presidential election, after unofficial results showed the controversial former military commander won more than 50% of the vote.
CULTURE
🇧🇷 At Rio Carnival in Brazil, Viradouro samba school's homage to black women was crowned the winner of the renowned parade competition.
📺 The 2024 Super Bowl was the most-watched broadcast in US TV history since the 1969 moon landing, helped by Taylor Swift’s appearance.
🚉 Six new London Overground lines - celebrating “different parts of London's unique local history and culture" - were unveiled on Thursday.
WORK & INNOVATION
💋 A new dating app designed for people with credit scores ranging from "good to excellent" launched in the US this week.
🛰️ Google announced backing for a project that will map methane pollution - one of the biggest contributors to global warming - from space.
🍚 Researchers have developed a new hybrid food - "meaty" rice - that they say could offer a more affordable and eco-friendly protein source.
UPLIFTING STUFF
🔬Scientists identified a jab that could prevent rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a development which could “offer hope to millions” at risk of the chronic disease
🇬🇷 Greece’s parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage on Thursday, making it the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to do so.
🇳🇿 A kiwi bird hospital opened in New Zealand to care for the “feathered national icon”. 👇
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💗 The power of platonic connections
On February 13th, we marked Galentine’s Day by sharing our readers’ messages to the friends who are brightening up their lives. Continuing on the theme, we wanted to share two of our favourite articles written on the topic of friendship:
🫶 The Unsung Joy of Falling in Big, Deep Platonic Love. “There is magic in the moment when you realise you’ve found a friend like no other,” writes Catherine Pearson in The New York Times. “What if we celebrated that kind of connection more?”
🫶 The Revolutionary Power of Female Friendship During the Holidays. Don’t get sidetracked by the focus on the festive season - in this lovely piece for TIME, Rebecca Brenner reflects on what it means to be shaped and nurtured by the women around you.
But we’re also conscious that during a time when there’s so much emphasis on celebrating our connection to others, we also need to carve out time for ourselves. That’s why we’ve been re-reading Joan Didion’s 1961 essay on Self-Respect.
📰 Read: What the 5 love languages get right, and what they get very wrong, by Constance Grady at Vox. “As Meyers-Briggs quizzes are to corporate bonding retreats, love languages are to Hinge profiles…,” Grady writes in this enlightening piece.
🎧 Listen to: Untold: The Retreat - a new four-part podcast investigating a hugely popular, ten-day-long intensive meditation retreat, known as Vipassana. Produced by the Financial Times' special investigations team, this series explores the “perils of meditation” - and you’ll be hooked from the first episode.
📺 Watch: All of Us Strangers and The Zone of Interest (out in cinemas now), The Drought (Channel 4), Masters of the Air (Apple TV+), Sexy Beast (Paramount+).
👩🍳 Cook: Pasta alla norma - crispy aubergine, tangy tomato sauce and salty ricotta…what more could you ask for?! If you’re feeling especially fancy, make your own pasta at the same time.
 | A lifesize cake of which celebrity has racked up more than 3 million views on TikTok this week? A) Taylor Swift |
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On Wednesday, we reported on the plight of camembert - the iconic French cheese that could go extinct. This is bad news for France and for cheese lovers, so much so that President Emmanuel Macron has allegedly been asked to step in. 👀 It’s not entirely clear how a presidential intervention would remedy the situation, but that’s beside the point.
We wanted to gauge how much you shared this love of le fromage… and there was a lot of love from across the board. Some special mentions for vacherin, blue cheese and vegan cheese.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Absolutely, yes (96)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No way (18)
For all our sakes, then, fingers crossed it’s not au-revoir to camembert.
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