The Five at Five: Cubitts

The Five at Five is a download of the best things to read, watch, shop, and get inspiration from – ready for the weekend. Each week, we’ll be bringing you selections from different tastemakers in our community, so you can delve into what’s keeping them entertained.

This week’s curator is Tom Broughton, Founder of Cubitts, an independent British spectacles and sunglasses company that started from his kitchen table in King’s Cross, London

Read: Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now, which has its critics, but makes a compelling and optimistic case for humanity. At this time it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the incessant negativity, but I think there’s still a strong case that now is still the best period to be alive in the history of humanity, pandemic notwithstanding.

Watch: Anything on BBC’s Storyville, but in particular The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea, which is on iPlayer at the moment.

Listen: I’m listening to a lot of Hermanos Gutierrez at the moment. For something more bleepy, Gidge have a new album out soon, which should be good. And podcastwise, where to begin? 99% Invisible, Radiolab and Hidden Brain are good places to get lost.

Shop: Bulbs to plant now, ready to emerge in an optimistic 2021. Imagine how glorious it’ll be when they appear in Spring, triumphant that the scientific process has suppressed the pandemic, with Joe Biden as US president, Brexit cancelled, and Boris has done a runner to Mustique. Thomas Ettys has a lovely selection.

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Inspiration:Jack Handey’s Deep Thoughts quote is always good for grounding: “Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.”