Articles
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: On Memory
Jerome K Jerome | Books
Jerome K Jerome on the pleasant tricks it plays on us
Thought for the Week: On Finding your Flaws
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Charles Handy on the near-fatal handicap he didn’t even know he had
Cider with Laurie
Guy Hayward | Idler Magazine
A literary pilgrimage through Gloucestershire’s Slad Valley
“Bullshit Detector”, a new Idler column
Tom Hodgkinson | Letter from the Editor
Send us examples of 21st century claptrap. £10 for each one we print
Air on a Shoestring
Georgia Mann | Idler Magazine
Georgia Mann on the rent-paying side hustles of famous composers
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: Being Hard Up
Jerome K Jerome | Books
Jerome K Jerome on what life’s like when every farthing counts
Thought for the Week: On Friendship
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Good friends are worth their weight in gold, writes Charles Handy
Toy Stories
Lee Osborne | Idler Magazine
Lee Osborne on the otherworldly images you can get with toy cameras
Divine Inspiration
David Bramwell | Archives
David Bramwell sings the praises of pop art nun Sister Corita Kent
Zodiac Mindwarp
Seb Falk | Archives
Seb Falk on the history of astrology and how it continues to cast its spell
Leave Them Kids Alone
Guy Standing | Idler Magazine
Guy Standing on why the education system needs an Athenian rethink
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: On Clothes
Jerome K Jerome | Books
Jerome K Jerome entertains wild and wicked thoughts of dressing gaily
Thought for the Week: Just Listen
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Charles Handy on why we should pay more attention to those around us
Songs the Lord Taught Us
Melanie Xulu | Idler Magazine
Melanie Xulu finds the LPs you need to hear. Plus her selected playlist
Seventeenth-Century Cures for Melancholy
Archives
Mirth, opium and sweet-smelling baths are among the old-school cures
What the Tortoise Teaches Us
Andrew Quayle | Archives
“A tortoise is never euphoric nor miserable. It is stoically content”
Cartoon by Modern Toss
Modern Toss | Cartoon
Plus: release your inner cartoonist with the Idler Academy
Skateboarding Is not a Sport
Thom Callan-Riley | Idler Magazine
Thom Callan-Riley visits the Slow Impact weekender in Phoenix, Arizona
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: Being in Love
Jerome K Jerome | Books
Cupid spends no second arrow on the same heart, says Jerome K Jerome
Thought for the Week: On the Afterlife
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Charles Handy on how our lives touch others, even when we’re gone
Honey Trap
Bill Anderson | Idler Magazine
Bill Anderson debunks the myth that bees always die after they sting