I’ve Got Mail is the brand new book from Jeff Stelling, the Sunday Times bestselling author and host of Sky Sports’ iconic football show Soccer Saturday. Reproducing a selection of correspondence he has received down the years, Stelling tells some intriguing stories around his experiences in broadcasting and football. This charming book is by turns warm and funny, moving and poignant, and invariably underpinned by a deeply rooted love of football and people.

“It arrived while I was playing football. I remember my mum running towards me, dressed in pinny and slippers, waving a piece of flesh coloured paper, gripped in her hand, the print all in slightly faded block capitals. But the message from my new employer was clear and urgent.

BERNARD GENT UNWELL. GO TO LEEDS IMMEDIATELY. COVER LEEDS UNITED V MIDDLESBROUGH

It was the first and last telegram I ever received. It was a message that probably changed the course of my life. It was the first of many pieces of correspondence during my life which have made me laugh, cry or perhaps influenced my pathway in a more significant way.

Receiving letters by post or via e-mail has always been important to me. Even now I feel slightly disappointed if the postman passes the door without anything for me, even though I know the chances are it will be a bill, a parking fine, a bank statement or a catalogue offering me clothing or garden furniture. The same applies when my inbox is empty save for someone offering a deal on a used car or urging me to change my energy provider.

These days my mail is often from total strangers, usually with a simple birthday or autograph request. But at times the correspondence is emotional, and sometimes it is angry. Occasionally I’m entrusted with personal issues that the correspondents probably would not tell their closest friends. The only thing they all have in common is they start ‘Dear Jeff’. Or almost all do…”

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**An Independent Book of the Month**

‘Why do we allow adverts that actively promote our own destruction? Halting climate catastrophe is hard enough without ads selling things that pollute more. With Badvertising, Simms and Murray have done the world an urgent favour. Funny and readable, it will make us all see advertising in a very different way’ Dr Chris van Tulleken, doctor, broadcaster and author of Ultra-Processed People

‘Hugely timely and important … Grapples with advertising’s role in enabling climate crimes – and sets out why and how we need to stop the industry’s complicity in its tracks, for the sake of a liveable future’ Caroline Lucas MP

‘Simms and Murray are clear-headed guides. Learn the history, be enraged at the tactics, and join the struggle for a less polluted public sphere’ Sam Knights, writer, actor and activist

‘A much-needed book whose time has come. The continued advertising of high-carbon products at a time of climate crisis is a form of insanity The authors are absolutely right’ Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, University College London

‘This book was a watershed moment for me. Since it can’t have an advertising campaign, we all need to tell our friends about it’ Jeremy Vine, broadcaster and journalist

Advertising is selling us a dream, a lifestyle. It promises us fulfilment and tells us where to buy it – from international flights to a vast array of goods we consume like there is no tomorrow. The truth is, if advertising succeeds in keeping us on our current trajectory, there may not be a tomorrow.

In Badvertising, Andrew Simms and Leo Murray raise the alarm on an industry that is making us both unhealthy and unhappy, and that is driving the planet to the precipice of environmental collapse in the process.

What is the psychological impact of being barraged by literally thousands of advertisements a day? How does the commercialisation of our public spaces weaken our sense of belonging? How are car manufacturers, airlines and oil companies lobbying to weaken climate action? Examining the devastating impact of advertising on our minds and on the planet, Badvertising also crucially explores what we can do to change things for the better.

Andrew Simms was called a ‘master at joined-up progressive thinking’ by New Scientist magazine. He co-authored the original Green New Deal, came up with Earth Overshoot Day, and jointly proposed the Fossil Fuel Non- Proliferation Treaty. He is the author of several books including Ecological Debt, Tescopoly, Cancel the Apocalypse and Economics: A Crash Course. He co-directs the New Weather Institute, is Assistant Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, coordinates the Rapid Transition Alliance and is a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex.

Leo Murray co-founded climate action charity Possible, where he is currently Director of Innovation, as well as noughties direct action pressure group Plane Stupid and pioneering solar rail enterprise Riding Sunbeams. Murray is also the creator of the Frequent Flyer Levy and the brains behind the Trump Baby blimp which rose to global fame during Donald Trump’s US presidency.

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