Better Known

Printmaker Molly Mahon discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Molly Mahon is a distinguished British printmaker and textile designer renowned for her vibrant and original block prints. Offering a range of uplifting collections, each rooted in Molly’s passion for the traditional and transformative craft of block printing, designs merge classic techniques with a fresh, modern aesthetic that feels timeless and joyful. Drawing inspiration from nature and her surroundings in the Sussex countryside, collections of fabrics, wallpapers and homewares are infused with a sense of homeliness that enriches and enlivens interiors. She has written a book ‘House of Print: A modern printer’s take ono design, colour and pattern’ which was printed in 2020 and this year is the 10th anniversary of the brand.

The Anokhi Museum, Jaipur – A tiny museum that celebrates the enduring beauty of hand block printing and changed the course of my creative life.

East Sussex – A county where creativity and nature exist side by side, from Charleston to Ashdown Forest, inspiring artists, writers and makers.

The White Umbrella by Brian Sewell – A gentle fable about kindness, compassion and the extraordinary journeys that begin with a single act of care.

Imperfections are the Luxury – The tiny variations in something made by hand are no longer flaws; they're what make an object unique, authentic and worth treasuring and more and more extinct!

The Craftspeople Behind Beautiful Things – The remarkable makers behind the objects we treasure deserve far greater recognition - is this too connected to the one above?

Florals and Stripes Belong Together – One of decorating's happiest marriages, proving that the most timeless interiors are built on contrast, confidence and a love of pattern.

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Anna Heyward discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Anna Heyward is a former editorial staffer of The New Yorker. She is a graduate student in animal behaviour and welfare science at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and is working as a dog trainer. Her writing has also been published by the New York Times, New York Times Book Review, T Magazine, Paris Review, and Vogue, among others. She was a 2018 Ravitch Fellow at the CUNY School of Journalism. Anna lives in New York but is often in London and Melbourne, where she was born. Based on her New Yorker story Bad Dog https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/bad-dog, her new book is called Living with Freddie and is available at https://www.virago.co.uk/titles/anna-heyward/living-with-freddie/9780349016528/

Pain in companion animals

You don’t need to punish your dog

Non-existence of pack theory in dogs

The lack of regulation in animal training

Welcoming snakes and spiders into our homes

The benefits of embracing a “messy” garden

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Minette Batters was the first woman to be elected President of the National Farmers’ Union in 113years. She worked with four Prime Ministers - three of them in one year - and six Defra Secretaries of State. She stood down from the post in February 2024.

In 2020 she led the NFU on one of the most successful campaigns ever seen, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts - resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. Minette also co-founded ‘Ladies in Beef’ and the Great British Beef Week.

She’s an ambassador for Farm Africa and a passionate advocate and fundraiser for the Junior Diabetic Research Foundation. She’s run in four marathons, raising over £100,000 for charity. In 2021 Minette was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and in July 2024 she was made a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords.

Curriculum based learning of food production https://www.farminguk.com/news/children-have-huge-lack-of-food-and-farming-knowledge-nfu-says_48601.html

Learning to cook and the importance of good nutrition https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jun/18/minette-batters-we-need-a-success-story-for-wild-spaces-but-also-for-farmers-and-food

Nature and the natural environment https://www.countrylife.co.uk/comment-opinion/minette-batters-the-peppering-project-is-a-blueprint-for-delivering-food-and-nature-security-across-the-country-in-a-way-that-rewilding-on-its-own-never-will-270118

Exercise and sport https://impactreport.womeninsport.org/

Politics https://www.farmersguardian.com/news/4176394/last-press-conference-nfu-president-minette-batters

Value of the rural economy https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/the-rural-economy/

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Nick Freudenberg discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Nicholas Freudenberg is distinguished professor emeritus of public health at the City University of New York School of Public Health. His expertise includes childhood lead poisoning, AIDS prevention, urban food policy, community organization for health, and mass incarceration. Since the 1970s, Freudenberg has studied, evaluated, taught about, and participated in health activist campaigns in New York City and elsewhere. Freudenberg is the author of several books, including At What Cost: Modern Capitalism and the Future of Health (2021), Lethal but Legal Corporation, Consumption and Protecting Public Health (2014) and Not in Our Backyards! Community Action for Health and the Environment (1984).

He was the founding director of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, the CUNY Public Health Doctoral Program, and the Hunter College Center on AIDS, Drugs and Community Health.

His new book is Fighting for New York, which is available at https://cup.columbia.edu/book/fighting-for-new-york/9780231221405/.

Many advances in health are due to activists’ health campaigns

Changes in living conditions are more important than advances in medicine

Short-term failures in activism may turn into long-term success

The idea that the current situation is inevitable is the biggest threat to activism

Activist groups win by bringing different communities together

The key is to convince politicians they have more to lose by following demands of wealthier supporters

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Ian Green discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Ian Green is a writer from Northern Scotland with a PhD in epigenetics. His debut fantasy trilogy The Rotstorm began with the Sunday Times bestseller The Gauntlet and the First Beneath. His short fiction has been widely published and he won the BBC Radio 4 Opening Lines competition, the Futurebook Future Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards. His biopunk eco-terrorism thriller Extremophile was one of Financial Times’ Best Science Fiction Books of 2024 and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. His swashbuckling new book The Deep and the Drowned is out now from Head of Zeus.

The British Fantasy Society https://britishfantasysociety.org/

The Last Blade Priest by W.P. Wiles https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-the-last-blade-priest-by-w-p-wiles/

The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/titus-alone-peake-gormenghast-trilogy-review-essay/

How much fun having kids is https://ifstudies.org/blog/why-bother-having-kids

Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=763THsqZ_ng

Nature immersion https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/insight-therapy/202606/seeing-green-nature-immersion-has-its-benefits

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