Muddle class

Ruth Ivo charts her unconventional path from teenage wanderlust to solo motherhood, reflecting on what it means to be truly free. After years of bohemian living - from squats to boats, raves to burlesque - she discovers that real freedom lies not in rejecting convention, but in remaining open to life's possibilities.

Mic Wright argues that our obsession with dramatic apocalyptic scenarios distracts from the slower, more mundane threats to human survival. While tech billionaires worry about artificial general intelligence, he suggests that climate change and resource inequality pose more immediate dangers to our species' future.

Boris Starling celebrates Jacob Bronowski, the mathematician and philosopher whose landmark TV series "The Ascent of Man" challenged the divide between science and arts. From his early days as a Polish immigrant to his powerful reflections on Auschwitz, Bronowski emerges as a profoundly humane intellectual whose insights about progress and knowledge remain vital today.