I Have No Plan For This

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The horrors

Epstein is a symptom

No one deposes a king because of their belief in democracy. They do it because the king has used his power to harm people. History is a cyclical thing, and one of the key cycles is this: a given society is fairly stable. There is a system that benefits a

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The horrors

Taking a stripped back, inexpert view at a thing to see if it works, inexpertly: the economy

A thing happens when someone knows too much about a given thing. When they know too much about the theory of a given thing – not so much when when they have a lot of experience of the practical side. In fact I think dismissing the realities of the practical sides

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Film

Oh no! I forgot the most important part of my plan to save cinema! Let me introduce you to The Tea Tour.

I made this whole todo and then I forgot the best bit. I mean there's substantial things I forgot also, stuff about how films are made such as you could save cinema by paying a little more respect to screenwriters. Examples of this include: I'm not

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Complaints

This weekend my off brand Roomba, Jeremy, became a mother

I brought this on myself, didn't I? All that crowing about how I fixed the shower and how enacting competence is good for the mental health all that bragging about exerting agency over my environment it's all come back to haunt me now. Turns out my

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Advice

Can I recommend fixing one tiny broken thing in these trying times?

I have fixed a tiny broken thing and the impact on my sense of general well being is honestly embarrassing. Our flat is full of tiny broken things because everything in it is old and we don't like to nag our landlords too much because we're

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Personal

2026

About nine and a half years ago, amid all the jokes about how awful 2016 was, in the middle of a Within the Wires meeting, Jeffrey said Meg says this will be the best year for ages. I've seen a lot of people talking about their terrible 2025.

God Rest Ye

Look, I love Christmas. I'm deeply selfish about it. This is something I inherited from my family when we moved to a city in which none of our grandparents or aunts or uncles or cousins lived. There were too many of us for seeing our extended family to

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Film

Collected Ideas for Saving Cinema, An Ongoing Discussion Between Me and Jamie Drew

* Fewer ads. Obviously fewer ads and also the ads should only be allowed to be shown before the trailers. Like, you get a couple of ads, then you get trailers, which are more fun, then the movie. It used to be this way. It could be this way again. * Also,

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Film

I will now allow Christmas to begin

Hello, good evening, it is Saturday the 6th of December, I have had a busy week, I'm sitting alone on my couch with a pour of wine, and I am willing to allow the festive season to begin. In celebration of this momentous occasion I have put on

It's my birthday I would like to stop being made to feel insane

I believe in simple things. I believe you shouldn't have to be in crippling discomfort when you fly even if you can't afford fancy fares. I believe that you shouldn't be expected to spend all your time working a job that provides no value

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The horrors

There's no escaping human connection

In The Great Divorce C. S. Lewis describes hell as an endlessly expanding, empty city. The people who live there are forever trying to get further away from each other, moving further outwards in an effort to find a comfortable isolation. It's a place where you can have

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The horrors

On hope

A few years ago, for History is Sexy, we had a question come in about musicals and revolutions. Naturally the reasons we come back to stories about revolutions, musical or otherwise, are myriad and varied and if you want a more comprehensive look you can listen to the episode but

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Complaints

Ok, so we all hate tropes, is it?

I don't know why people are talking about this really. I don't even really know how much they are talking about it, but I've seen it float across my feed a few times over the last few days, and many more over the last

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Weird Shit

What weird shit have you watched recently: spooky season edition

Full disclosure this is going to be a combination of weird shit I have watched recently and weird shit I think you should watch this spooky season, why not, I contain multitudes. Now, I am not a big horror person but I do enjoy some horror or horror adjacent offerings.

A farewell

The first episode of the tenth and final season of Within the Wires is out today. I have been working on this show for ten years, which makes absolutely no sense. I cannot imagine working on something for so long, even as I sit here now having done it. It&

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Art

Art vs. Entertainment or; how to be a film guy

Look, I wasn't going to write a newsletter today. I was going to be a few days late, which, given my intention is to be a week ahead, is already very late. But then my friend Marie's newsletter came out and it made have thoughts. Or,

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The horrors

We have become slaves to the idea of sounding convincing

I have a real grudge against the Enlightenment. Sure, the scholars of the Enlightenment pushed Western society towards democracy, moved us into a theoretically more egalitarian future, but they also ruined everything for everyone forever. The Enlightenment convinced us all that reasoned debate was the only thing that mattered and

Art

Taskmaster task outfits: ranked (Series 20 Update)

The following is the definitive ranking of Taskmaster task outfits. I placed each outfit on a whim and stand by absolutely none of it, so do not come at me, I will fold immediately. I'll be honest, I thought this was going to be a quick and easy

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Politics

Graham Linehan and online harassment: a timeline

Were you on twitter during Gamergate? God, what a time. If you weren't extremely online circa 2015 (brag) let me explain (no, there is too much; let me sum up): in the latter half of 2014 a bunch of the internet's discontented men launched a massive

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Caroline Bingley: Matchmaker

I don't think Fitzwilliam Darcy would have fallen in love with Elizabeth Bennett if it wasn't for Caroline Bingley. So there. Have you heard the pop-psychology story about Ben Franklin and the rare book? Franklin argued that people will be more inclined to like you

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AI

Friends fear she has more to say about AI

Once again a thing is going around on Bluesky where someone is defending the use of AI to make art, and there's something in there that's stood out to me. The person describes the process of learning to paint as hazing. So what the fuck is

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Ok, look, I'm going to talk about Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez

Obviously it is obscene to be alive right now. Obscene to be writing a newsletter at all, but then it also feels obscene to be sitting safely in my flat with a cup of coffee and a snack. A normal life feels obscene right now but we've got

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Men, hug your bros. Grasp them by the shoulders, look deep into their eyes and tell them you cherish their friendship. For the good of us all.

We regret to inform you that there has been a discourse. Ian Dunt is worried about men getting laid. He's worried that all the advice for men on getting laid comes from right wing dipshits like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate, and that the left doesn't

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Complaints

We continue to barely function

Samuel Johnson (of the dictionary) spent a lot of his life trying to avoid debtor's prison. He's one of the most highly regarded English writers in history but while he lived and worked he struggled to survive. Such is life. What he would do to avoid

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Art

A Dichotomy of Bops, Bangers, and Jams

I've been trying to explore, musically, this week. I do this thing – I don't know if you've heard of this – where I tend to only listen to things I already know, and I'm trying to be better at keeping myself abreast of