Two words. Reading List. Takes you back to high school doesn’t it – when on the last day of term your teacher would load you up with the books that, if read, could get you well to the top of the class the following term. This week’s WHIP is no different. There are no strong words of motivation, just a list of crucial reads. And the rest, fellow juniors, is up to you.

I’m writing this week’s Whip via MacBook and WiFi whilst sitting on a sun-lounger out by the pool in my designer back garden in Brighton.

You too could be living the lifestyle of the well off but not exactly rich and/or famous if you spend your summer holidays reading any one of the following books over the Christmas break.

Merry Xmas kids! Stan x

It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be – Paul Arden

A year with swollen appendices – Brian Eno

From those wonderful folks who gave you Pearl Harbour – Jerry Della Famina

The fight – Norman Mailer

Easy riders, raging bulls – Peter Biskind