A thin blue crime – and what to do about it I took a friend once to an NWA tribute concert here in Amsterdam. Yes, it had been mindbending to hear "gangsta rap" performed in the elegant, nay, opulent settings of the Concertgebouw, but I promise you, dear reader, that it is all true. At the end of the night, I asked my companion why he’d kept himself from the cathartic release the rest of us enjoyed as we shouted "Fuck tha Police", to which he replied: "The police have never done anything to me."

He was not wrong, and it is with this same sense of curious distance – or worse still, outright disapproval – that some look on as the winds of change blow through US policing. Is it too much to speak of "abolishing the police"? Does one rotten apple spoil the barrel? Today’s recommendation – a Twitter thread no less – promises to summarily answer none of these questions but will give you much food for thought.

Describing fascinating research carried out by Nobel Prize-winning economist Elinor Ostrom on policing, the thread concludes: "When it comes to safer communities, funding or size of services is not important. What’s important is the connections and trust between the community and the service provider." There is much more to it than that – in bursts of 280 characters. Enjoy!

Eliza, managing editor Aaron Vansintjan on Twitter (reading time: four minutes)
Until there was nothing Hypnotising and slightly disturbing, this philosophical art film directed by Paul Trillo meanders through the metaphysics of space and existence. Featuring archive lecture recordings by Alan Watts, the film visually explores the idea of Earth being consumed into nothingness by a black hole.

Afonso, editorial designer Vimeo: ‘Until there was nothing’ (viewing time: five minutes)
The truth is out hair Hair truthers. Yes, there’s nothing that won’t be "truthed" these days. Female politicians have become the target of people who think their hair is just a little too immaculate.

We’re supposed to be social distancing and in lockdown, so how come when they appear on TV some female politicians seem to have touched up their roots? How come their hair is cut neatly and clearly, not by their clumsy partners but by a professional hairdresser?

Of all the conspiracy theories that have circulated since lockdown started, this one reveals how the crisis has made us all extremely paranoid that someone else who knows better is living a normal life, getting haircuts and highlights, and we are the fools who have to follow some bogus guidelines.

Nesrine, Better Politics correspondent New Statesman: ‘Hair truthers: the people obsessed with female politicians’ haircuts’ (reading time: seven minutes)

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