StephenC79

You can get free gift cards for discovering things online with @Swagbucks just like I did. Use my link to try it out: swagbucks.com/profile/r_2109…

Translation: "I started something I can't finish and broke something I can't fix so I'm going to walk away and pretend it's your fault"

The BBC just released a new adaptation of Lord of the Flies, the classic novel by William Golding. It's beautifully made, but it's still telling the wrong story. A few years ago, I went looking for the *real* Lord of the Flies. I wanted to know: has it ever actually happened? Have kids ever been shipwrecked on a deserted island? It took me a year of research, but I found it. In 1965, six boys from a boarding school in Tonga stole a boat, got caught in a storm, and drifted for eight days without food or water. They washed up on 'Ata, a remote, uninhabited island in the Pacific. They stayed there for 15 months, and what happened on that island was the exact opposite of William Golding's novel. These boys set up a small commune. They built a food garden, stored rainwater in hollowed-out tree trunks, created a gym with improvised weights, and built a badminton court. One of them, Stephen (who would later become an engineer) managed to start a fire using two sticks. They kept it burning the entire time. Of course they fought too. But then they argued, they had a rule: go to opposite ends of the island, cool down, then come back and apologize. As one of them told me: ‘That's how we stayed friends.’ Back home, everyone assumed that the boys – Luke, Stephen, Sione, David, Kolo and Mano — were dead. When they were finally discovered by an Australian captain named Peter Warner, he radioed their names to Tonga. After twenty minutes, a tearful response came back: ‘You found them! These boys have been given up for dead. Funerals have been held. If it's them, this is a miracle!’ Peter commissioned a new ship, hired all six boys as his crew, and named the boat the Ata, after the island where he found them. They remained friends for the rest of their lives – Peter and Mano even became soulmates. I tracked them down, and it became one of the central chapters of my book Humankind. Here's what struck me most: William Golding (the author of Lord of the Flies) was a troubled man, an alcoholic who once said ‘I have always understood the Nazis, because I am of that sort by nature.’ I think he was projecting his own darkness onto children. And we turned it into a lesson about human nature that we teach to millions of kids around the world. I think the real lesson is the opposite. When real children found themselves alone on a real island, they didn't descend into savagery. They cooperated, they took care of each other, they survived. I'm not saying that the Tongan castaways were representative of all kids everywhere. But I am saying that every kid who has to read or watch the fictional Lord of the Flies also deserves to know what actually happened when it played out in real life. Stories are never just stories. We become the stories that we tell ourselves.

Trump especially this…

There are more than 38,000 references to Donald Trump in the latest batch of Epstein files that he and his administration told you never existed in the first place.

BREAKING: In a stunning report, CNN just analyzed all the ways Donald Trump and his family have profited from his Presidency. This is insane.

I've signed this petition calling on Stormont to support the call to extend the right to vote to all residents of Northern Ireland - will you sign too? my.actnowni.org/petitions/vote… via @actnowni

!!📚***Book Giveaway***📚!! As Bettany Hughes’ TV show 'The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World' is currently airing on Channel 5, I thought that I would do a giveaway for Bettany’s book of the same title, released last year. Simply retweet to enter. Winner will be drawn at random. Entries up until 15th September ‘25. I will post anywhere so feel free to participate. Good luck! 🤞😊📚

@IdlewildtheBand Yes!!!

@BiffyClyro @glastonbury @BBCiPlayer Can’t wait to check it out. No audio version on BBC sounds though?

'Many of Horror' live from @glastonbury The full performance is available to watch back now on @BBCiPlayer, for the next 29 days. bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

96 private jets full of corrupt elites and celebs flying into Venice, a city destroyed by tourism, to celebrate the wedding of the world’s most shameless tax dodger: Jeff Bezos. Well, it's the perfect anecdote for future historians writing about this Second Gilded Age --> 🧵

Thanks media for totally spoiling tonight’s #DrWho 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

I entered to win a chance to travel around Turkey on an adventure with @TourRadar! Enter now! #AdventureBeginsHere tourradar.com/travel/wonders…

12% of the North's land could be opened up for mining exploration when Economy Minister @CArchibald_SF approves these seven licenses. I've signed this petition opposing these licenses - will you sign too? my.actnowni.org/petitions/no-m… via @actnowni

Petition: Ban fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7000…