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  • The idolatry of geography

    I finished the chapter in John Philip Newell’s The Great Search on Rabindranath Tagore this morning. Tagore was an Indian writer, thinker, and artist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. I thought this was particularly profound:

    It was the nationalism of Britain that had humiliated India, he said. This would not be resolved by yet another nationalism trying to counteract it. Tagore called this “the idolatry of Geography”, an absolutizing of boundaries that breeds suspicion and disrespect for those on the other side of the barriers we have artificially created.

    Sadly, it feels like we’re entering a period of history where the idolatry of geography is reasserting itself.

    → 9:19 AM, 19 Jun

  • What if I’m wrong?

    There’s an article in this week’s FT Weekend on the “seven intellectual habits of the best thinkers”. All seven habits are sensible, but number six was the most powerful reminder: Always assume you might be wrong. The author of the article, Simon Kuper, adds:

    Mediocre thinkers prefer to confirm their initial assumptions. This “confirmation bias” stops them reaching new or deeper insights. By contrast, Darwin was always composing arguments against his own theories.

    How different would the world be—in particular, the world of social media debate—if we were all practicing this habit?

    → 10:05 AM, 25 May

  • Imogen is 13!

    As of today, we are the parents of not one but two teenagers. And, hard as it is to believe, our youngest daughter is now a teenager. Imogen’s thirteen years have tumbled past like a stream. I am so proud of her—who she is already, and who she is still becoming.

    There is plenty of angst, as you’d expect, but there is also an abundance of love and laughter. I feel incredibly grateful to get to be her father. I don’t feel old enough to have 13- and 16-year-old daughters. I probably look it, though!

    → 12:14 PM, 23 May

  • The pause between scrolls

    My friend Ryan Offutt shared a compelling article with me today—a review by Erik J. Larson of a new book, Superbloom, by Nicholas Carr. The book explores how so-called “technologies of connection” erode what is poetic and profoundly human. Two quotes stood out. First:

    The real world, with its quiet repetitions and constraints, offers something the digital cannot: room for contemplation. The possibility of meaning. Familiarity, unlike novelty, is the ground from which philosophy grows. It is where depth takes root.

    And then:

    The real world, with its resistances and repetitions, is not less because it is boring. It is more because it endures. That, he seems to say, is where attention belongs now: not in the stream, but in the pause between scrolls. Not in the feed, but in the place where nothing updates.

    The whole review is both insightful and disquieting—and well worth reading in full for anyone wrestling with how digital life reshapes what it means to be human.

    → 9:11 PM, 22 May

  • The loss of curiosity in pursuit of convenience

    I read a thought-provoking article by Joan Westenberg this morning. She makes the case that many of the ways technology brings convenience to our lives come at the cost of our curiosity. If we don’t have to work as hard to get something, will we value it as much? And what do we miss out on by not having to go down blind alleys—the false starts and tangents that curiosity thrives on?

    Here are two segments that especially stood out:

    …in the real world, knowledge is earned through movement. Friction. Ambiguity. The old experience of falling into a stack of books at the library wasn’t efficient, but that was hardly the point. You’d go in looking for one answer and come out with five better questions. That’s how curiosity thrives: in the space between expected and unexpected, between map and territory.

    And then:

    We don’t need more information. We have oceans of it. What we need are tools that reintroduce friction in thoughtful ways. Interfaces that don’t just answer us, but provoke us. Not to make things harder for the sake of it—to remind us that adult curiosity is not a default state. It must be cultivated. And right now, the culture of convenience is starving it.

    → 11:23 AM, 21 May

  • Golden ages thrive on openness

    There’s a fascinating article in The Economist this week on how golden ages start and end. It’s inspired by a new book called Peak Human by Johan Norberg, a Swedish historian. The author argues that there is one thing the most successful societies had in common:

    …the polities that outshone their peers did so because they were more open: to trade, to strangers and to ideas that discomfited the mighty. When they closed up again, they lost their shine.

    The book was written before Donald Trump’s election and the current tariff and trade wars. Even so, the book’s point holds without needing to mention him explicitly.

    → 9:13 AM, 7 May

  • “Mental Load – the Movie”

    Caitlin Moran’s column in The Times this morning is a thought-provoking take on the reality show Stacey & Joe. Seeing beyond the lightness of the show, she observes that what the show should really be called is Mental Load – the Movie as it highlights the discrepancies in what men and women do—or don’t do—around the house. She concludes:

    …I’ve started to see Stacey & Joe not as a joyful piece of primetime relaxation - but an important social document… in every episode, the disparity. There are two high-profile showbiz adults, with big careers, in the house — but only one knows how to use the washing machine, or thinks to pick their clothes off the floor. And only one is finding time for fishing trips with the lads.

    → 8:33 AM, 3 May

  • My heart is not happy with me watching this #Arsenal game, but I’d have absolutely taken 0–0 at half time prior to kick off. Especially as we’ve look more like scoring (and should have scored that penalty).

    → 9:00 PM, 16 Apr

  • People are saying #Arsenal should play it safe tonight, focus on protecting the 3–0 lead. That doesn’t sit right with me. We shouldn’t be careless, but our mindset should be to take this game by the jugular and kill it off. Go for it. Don’t invite them onto us by sitting back and playing safe.

    → 8:24 AM, 16 Apr

  • 🔗 Have we been thinking about ADHD all wrong?

    This is a long—very long!—article, but well worth the time.

    → 10:50 AM, 15 Apr

  • Screen usage and back and neck pain

    This is definitely something I worry about with my girls.

    🔗 My patients used to have back pain at 40. Now they’re in their 20s

    Musculoskeletal problems of all kinds are increasing among children and teenagers — with NHS referrals among those aged 18 and under up 50 per cent since 2019. The recent wave of younger patients comprises the first people who had a mobile phone at secondary school and a smartphone in their early twenties. They gamed through their teens and went to university with a laptop. They fully embraced the idea of taking your laptop with you everywhere and working anywhere. They have sat leaning over their laptop and mobile phones in that curved C-shaped desk “office posture” for ten years before they got anywhere near an office. The effects of all this are incredibly stark.

    → 8:08 AM, 13 Apr

  • “Trump’s latest approval rating dropped this week to just 43%.”

    What does it say about America that nearly half the country is still on board with him? After everything?

    I’m glad it’s dropping, but how is it still this high?!

    → 9:02 AM, 4 Apr

  • Age and forgiveness

    The older I get, the more it feels like I must forgive almost everything for not being perfect, or as I first wanted or needed it to be.

    —Richard Rohr, The Tears of Things

    → 3:44 PM, 3 Apr

  • 📚 I gave All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton a solid shot—made it about 30% through—but it’s just not clicking for me. No matter how much I try, I can’t seem to get into it, so I’m moving on to something that grabs me more!

    → 8:48 PM, 9 Mar

  • Enjoying a relaxing spa day at Champneys Springs in Leicestershire with Rachel. Spent a blissful hour and a half making my way through FT Weekend—there’s still something uniquely satisfying about a leisurely newspaper read on a weekend. Informative, engaging, and a great companion to a day of unwinding.

    → 12:49 PM, 8 Mar

  • 📚 Finished reading The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose last night. Very enjoyable! The socially awkward yet endearing main character works well. In the best sense of the word, it’s just a really nice book!

    → 10:30 PM, 26 Feb

  • #Arsenal just not nearly threatening enough. Not enough guile. Not enough pace. Not enough potency. Disappointing. There’s reasons, but still…

    → 10:25 PM, 26 Feb

  • Great to see that Apple’s AirPods Pro hearing aid feature is now available in the UK.

    🔗 You can now use AirPods Pro as hearing aids in the UK

    → 1:54 PM, 24 Feb

  • 🏉 Didn’t really deserve that, and a really inconsistent, bitty performance, but not going to complain about finally beating Scotland again!

    → 7:44 PM, 22 Feb

  • There’s a reason the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” has stood the test of time.

    → 9:00 AM, 22 Feb

  • I am not sure what the “row“ is. This is basically Apple saying “screw you” to the UK government in response to their draconian, abhorrent request to undermine the privacy and security of millions of users.

    🔗 Apple pulls data protection tool after UK government security row

    → 7:42 PM, 21 Feb

  • 📚 Currently reading: The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose. As with the first in this series, it’s an easy, comfortable read with just enough intrigue to keep me hooked.

    → 9:14 AM, 20 Feb

  • ⚽️ That was a tough game, but a fantastic win for #Arsenal! Who needs a striker when we’ve got Merino?! As for Sterling, it’s time to move on—sad to say, but he just can’t cut it at this level anymore. And Nwaneri… there aren’t enough superlatives. What a talent!

    → 3:39 PM, 15 Feb

  • 📚 Finished reading Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly late last night. As always with the Lincoln Lawyer series, it’s the perfect mix of the familiar and the unexpected that keeps me hooked. A gripping crime read—loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    → 1:02 PM, 15 Feb

  • A deprivation of our inner world

    This from John Philip Newell in The Great Search, reflecting on the wisdom of Thomas Berry, offers a striking insight:

    It is not just our lungs and bodies that are damaged by particle and light pollution in the cities. It is “soul-deprivation”, says [Thomas] Berry. To not be able to see the stars is a deprivation of our inner world, a loss of wonder, and thus a diminishing of our imagination and the ability to remember our origins in the heavens and to dream our way forward into new beginnings on Earth.

    → 12:56 PM, 15 Feb

  • 📚 Started reading The Great Search by John Philip Newell. Always appreciate Newell’s thoughts and insights. Looking forward to diving into his latest reflections.

    → 10:01 AM, 12 Feb

  • ⚽️ I don’t usually watch much football that doesn’t involve Arsenal, but I’ve got the Man City vs Real Madrid game on tonight. The best part? Both teams take throw-ins straight away! Wish Arsenal wouldn’t slow the game down so much.

    → 10:40 PM, 11 Feb

  • 📚 Switching gears! After the gentle-yet-gripping Intermezzo, I’m diving into Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly. Time for some classic crime, sharp twists, and a dose of legal drama—looking forward to seeing where this one takes me!

    → 8:13 PM, 11 Feb

  • 📚 I’ve finally finished reading Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. That it took me the best part of a month is no reflection of my enjoyment—quite the opposite. This is a novel to be savoured, and savour it I did. The richness and depth of the characters were a delight, with Rooney doing a great job capturing the complexities of two brothers navigating life after their father’s death. Her exploration of unconventional relationships is both subtle and thought-provoking, leaving plenty of space to reflect on life’s messy realities. A thoroughly rewarding read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    → 2:44 PM, 11 Feb

  • 🏉 There’s plenty of positivity in the media and online after England’s win over France on Saturday—I share it! But if we don’t back it up with a win against Scotland, have we really progressed? That’s the key game that will show if we’ve truly turned a corner.

    → 9:45 AM, 10 Feb

  • 🏉 Finally! England win a close game against a top team! Could have been very different if France took some of their chances, but the way we hung in there meant we deserved things to go our way for once. Hope this turns a corner for this side.

    → 7:37 PM, 8 Feb

  • A stark exposé in The Economist on the rise of online scams like “pig-butchering,” now rivaling the drug trade. None of us are safe.

    🔗 The vast and sophisticated global enterprise that is Scam Inc

    → 1:17 PM, 8 Feb

  • This is a dangerous overreach. And it isn’t just about criminals—it’s about everyone’s privacy and security. The fact that it’s happening behind closed doors, without public debate, makes it even worse.

    🔗 Home Office orders Apple to let it snoop on encrypted files

    → 9:05 AM, 8 Feb

  • Molly

    Today we said goodbye to our beautiful Molly.

    We always described her as our first child—a wonderful family dog, a loyal companion, and a constant source of love and joy.

    From playful moments to quiet cuddles, she filled our home with boundless warmth and happiness. She’s been such a presence in our home, and forever a part of our family.

    Run free, Molly. You were so loved. 🐾💔

    → 2:04 PM, 7 Feb

  • 💭 A great reminder from designer and community builder Eso Tolson: Our work isn’t just what we get paid for—it’s what we contribute to the world:

    We think our “work" is the job we go to or the place we get a check from. No. Your work is the very special thing that you add to this world. Your vision. Your light. Your love. What you share. What you create. How you make people feel. Etc. That, my friends, is truly our WORK.

    → 7:21 AM, 7 Feb

  • A good reminder from Jason Fried:

    Be curious about what’s new, sure. That’s expected. But it’s more interesting to be curious about what’s old. What stood the test of time? What worked before and still works now? What survived through all the jabs that you assumed would knock it out, but didn’t?

    🔗 What’s still here?

    → 11:49 PM, 6 Feb

  • ⚽️ Gutted for #ArsenalWomen to lose right at the death tonight. Hard to argue that Man City didn’t deserve it, though. Apart from a questionable penalty, we never really looked like scoring.

    → 10:34 PM, 6 Feb

  • 🏉 Sad to see Dan Kelly leaving #LeicesterTigers. Hope the move to Munster helps him find his best form again. When he first broke through, I really thought he’d become an England regular, but injuries and form got in the way. Still time for him to shine!

    🔗 Dan Kelly to depart Tigers at season’s end

    → 7:12 PM, 6 Feb

  • I enjoyed Martin Robbin’s post on why we should probably stop following the news so closely:

    Following all this [Trump] chaos is stressful and exhausting and feels largely pointless given that, again, if I had fallen into a blissful slumber nine days ago and been oblivious to the threats against Colombia, Mexico and Canada, I’d be no less informed and a lot less anxious.

    🔗 Denial of Service

    → 5:03 PM, 5 Feb

  • ⚽️ Nice article by Tim Stillman providing an in-depth profile of Renée Slegers, detailing her journey from a small town in the Netherlands to becoming the head coach of #ArsenalWomen.

    🔗 The making of Renee Slegers

    → 2:50 PM, 5 Feb

  • My friend, Dean Sharp, shares another remarkable ‘closing thought’ on his radio show The House Whisperer. We can’t always control what life throws at us, but we can control who we become through it all.

    🔗 It doesn’t get better, you get better

    → 2:19 PM, 3 Feb

  • ⚽️ A great day for both the Arsenal men’s and women’s teams. Always satisfying to cut Man City down a notch… or five. Whatever happens this season, the emergence of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly might just be the biggest takeaway. #Arsenal

    → 8:26 PM, 2 Feb

  • Excellent piece from Matthew Syed in The Times today. He’s written extensively on aviation safety, so he knows his stuff. Trump’s handling of this week’s crash has alarming implications for all of us.

    🔗 Trump’s scapegoating threatens the entire basis of aviation safety

    → 11:29 AM, 2 Feb

  • 🏉 What an utterly shambolic second half from England. Embarrassing frankly. #Rugby

    → 7:31 PM, 1 Feb

  • I always sensed Dan Cole always saw himself as a fly half… 😉

    → 5:47 PM, 1 Feb

  • Watched the highlights from France vs. Wales in the Six Nations opener last night—what a hammering for Wales. France looked class, but it’s tough to see just how far Wales have fallen.

    🔗 France crush Wales as Dupont stars on Six Nations return

    → 9:13 AM, 1 Feb

  • It has taken a little longer than we anticipated, but we are there with our new bathroom! Really happy with how it’s all turned out!

    A bathroom features a sink with a mirrored cabinet, a window with frosted glass, and a plant on the windowsill.A small bathroom features a white tiled wall, a toilet, a white cabinet with greenery on top, and a dark blue upper wall with a white clock.A modern bathroom features a white tiled corner with a bathtub, an overhead shower, and a glass partition.A bathroom features a blue and white tiled wall with a chrome towel rack, hooks, and a shelf, alongside a white door and patterned floor tiles.A modern bathroom features a combination of white and navy blue walls, a bathtub with a glass screen, patterned floor tiles, and a small window.

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 8:58 PM, 31 Jan

  • Harrison Ford. In a kilt. Selling whisky.

    A perfect blend of cranky charm and smooth marketing.

    🔗 Once upon a time in Scotland

    → 11:25 AM, 31 Jan

  • Good advice, as ever, from Oliver Burkeman:

    The 70% rule: If you’re roughly 70% happy with a piece of writing you’ve produced, you should publish it. If you’re 70% satisfied with a product you’ve created, launch it. If you’re 70% sure a decision is the right one, implement it. And if you’re 70% confident you’ve got what it takes to do something that might make a positive difference to the increasingly alarming era we seem to inhabit? Go ahead and do that thing.

    🔗 Seventy per cent

    → 3:36 PM, 30 Jan

  • When the likes of both David Sparks (below) and John Gruber are going out of their way to highlight Siri’s failings, you know Apple has a problem on its hands.

    Fundamentally, Siri’s progress has been too slow, and long-known issues left unresolved for too long.

    🔗 Will Siri ever get smart?

    → 9:25 AM, 29 Jan

  • Enjoyed Om Malik’s reflections on the iPad, 15 years after it was first introduced.

    🔗 iPad at 15: Hit or a Miss?

    → 6:23 PM, 28 Jan

  • And then she was 16!

    We love you Eloise, and are so proud of who you are and all you do. Whether it’s through your passion for art and theatre, the way your laugh lights up a room, or your love for your friends, you make the world better with everything you do and everywhere you go. Our lives were wonderfully changed from the moment you first arrived—and have been every day since. You are amazing. Never stop being you!

    The day you changed our lives forever

    Sam and Eloise in hospital just after Eloise was born.

    16 years later, and you’re still lighting up our world

    Sam and Eloise standing together on a rocky coastline with a cloudy sky in the background.

    → 6:06 PM, 28 Jan

  • DeepSeek is a good reminder that the greatest innovations are often born from constraints, not abundance.

    → 8:06 AM, 28 Jan

  • Demons, identity, and the voices that define us

    Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and spiritual teacher, offers a fascinating take on Jesus’s casting out of demons in the first century. While the language may feel outdated to modern ears, the essence behind it remains deeply relevant today:

    When a person has a constantly changing reference point, they have a very insecure life. They will take on any persona, negative or positive, and become incapable of much personal integrity. This is the celebrity-obsessed world in which we are living today. The biblical tradition uses the language of “having a demon” to describe such negative identity. We post-enlightenment, educated people don’t like this language very much, but one way to think of “being possessed” is when there is an unhealthy other (or others!) who is defining us—and usually rather poorly.

    Rohr’s reflection challenges us to rethink the idea of “possession.” What happens when external forces, such as societal expectations, social media, or the opinions of others, begin to define us? In many ways, the “demons” of today are the unhealthy voices and influences that lead us away from our true selves.

    How might we cast out these forces in our own lives? Rohr’s insights invite us to reflect deeply on where we find our sense of identity and security.

    You can explore the full article at cac.org.

    → 3:27 PM, 27 Jan

  • I love this quote from Vincent Van Gogh:

    Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

    It’s a powerful reminder that starting small is still starting and that small beginnings can lead to significant endings.

    → 5:37 PM, 26 Jan

  • Disappointed to see Arsenal Women lose their unbeaten run under new manager Renée Slegers. We had enough chances to win the game, and that’s ultimately what cost us when the referee (who was poor throughout) awarded Chelsea a dodgy penalty. Frustrating! Didn’t deserve to lose.

    → 3:46 PM, 26 Jan

  • And yet another controversial red card for Arsenal🤦‍♂️… At least it didn’t cost us any points this time.

    → 6:31 PM, 25 Jan

  • It wasn’t as bad as last week, but I see Leicester Tigers still seem to have a large ‘Welcome’ sign along their try line.

    → 6:27 PM, 25 Jan

  • DIY day today: one old bed dismantled, new one waiting to be assembled. Onward!

    → 12:27 PM, 25 Jan

  • 📺 I’ve been reading some great reviews of Prime Target, including this one from The Spectator. It’s definitely on my watchlist—right after I catch up on Silo and finish the brilliant second season of Pachinko.

    🔗 Certainly intriguing: Apple TV+’s Prime Target reviewed

    → 9:24 PM, 24 Jan

  • Good progress from the builders today on the bathroom wall tiling. They’re aiming to finish the tiling tomorrow. I’d hoped everything would be wrapped up by then, but it’s looking more like early next week now.

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 6:11 PM, 23 Jan

  • This was a good nudge from Brad Stulberg. I read a fair bit, but it is all too often distracted reading rather than deep reading.

    🔗 A Brief Guide to Developing a Deep Reading Habit

    → 11:59 AM, 23 Jan

  • Fascinating look at the viability of e-fuels.

    🔗 Is carbon neutral e-fuel the silver bullet petrolheads are praying for? (Apple News)

    Synthetic fuels, on their own, won’t be the magic one-stop solution to our planet’s green energy needs… But they might well be part of the silver arsenal.

    → 7:14 AM, 23 Jan

  • The bathroom floor is down. You never quite know how something is going to look when picking tiles, but I love how this has turned out.

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 5:40 PM, 22 Jan

  • 🏉 Adam Radwan joining Leicester Tigers with immediate effect is fantastic news! He’ll definitely help us rack up more points, but I’m not sure he’s the answer to our recent defensive woes…

    → 8:51 AM, 22 Jan

  • I’d heard a lot about the high costs of AI, but this article in The Economist really put it into perspective. Some of the costs for certain queries are absolutely staggering!

    🔗 OpenAI’s latest model will change the economics of software

    → 10:31 PM, 21 Jan

  • A few quick thoughts on Elon Musk’s Nazi salute

    For starters: it was a Nazi salute, let’s not even try and pretend it was anything other than that.

    That therefore leaves, in my mind, two possibilities:

    1. He did it not because he is fully aligned with Nazism, but because he wanted to rile his opponents.
    2. He did it because he is revealing his true colours as a Nazi.

    Though possibility one is (possibly) more palatable, what does it say about someone that they would choose to align with something so horrific to rile their opponents?

    So, all told, there is nothing good that can be gleamed from what he did.

    And this is the person who has the ear of the man with the most power in the world.

    → 10:08 AM, 21 Jan

  • The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.

    —George Orwell

    → 9:49 AM, 21 Jan

  • The missing middle ring of human connection

    Derek Thompson’s ’The Anti-Social Century' is quite simply a must-read piece. There is so much I could draw from and reflect on, but I’ll go with just this on what he calls the missing ‘middle ring’ of our human connections:

    Home-based, phone-based culture has arguably solidified our closest and most distant connections, the inner ring of family and best friends (bound by blood and intimacy) and the outer ring of tribe (linked by shared affinities). But it’s wreaking havoc on the middle ring of “familiar but not intimate” relationships with the people who live around us.

    This article is a fascinating reflection on the societal implications of screens, alongside being at home more. I know this rings true for me. It’s easier to feel superficially connected via something online, and so I choose that over the more involved—but much deeper—connection of in-person, face-to-face time with others.

    → 5:25 PM, 20 Jan

  • This episode of the Farewell podcast is eye-opening, alarming, but not without hope:

    🎙️ From Solitude to Social Fitness: Rethinking Connection in the 21st Century (with Derek Thompson)

    Key idea: our dopamine is getting used up scrolling which leaves us with no drive left for real social engagement.

    → 4:39 PM, 20 Jan

  • Underfloor heating is going in today.

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 3:42 PM, 20 Jan

  • This is spot on from Shane Parrish in his latest newsletter:

    Being brilliant won’t save you if no one can count on you… Reliability isn’t just a virtue - it’s a competitive advantage that compounds over time.

    → 11:11 AM, 20 Jan

  • 🏉 Leicester Tigers have now set a Premiership record for most points they’ve conceded at home (54), and a European record for the most points they’ve ever conceded in a game (80) in the space of less than a month. We were almost full-strength today too 🙈. Awful.

    → 9:31 PM, 19 Jan

  • 🎬 Left the girls at home and went to see A Real Pain last night. It’s about two cousins going on a Holocaust tour to honour their late grandmother while dealing with their history and contrasting personalities. Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are both brilliant in the lead roles. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    → 10:21 AM, 19 Jan

  • The MTO goal-setting technique is new to me, but I like the idea of this. Instead of just single stretch goals, you set Minimum, Target, and Outrageous versions of the goal. I think this could help me a lot!

    → 5:27 PM, 18 Jan

  • Glad to hear that Apple’s AirPods Pro hearing aid features are launching in the UK soon. Most countries already have this, but UK regulations regarding over the counter hearing aids needed updating.

    → 12:45 PM, 18 Jan

  • Good if somewhat depressing article in The Guardian by David Hytner about how footballers (and their families) are treated on social media. Pleased to see Arsenal being so proactive regarding the abuse of Kai Havertz, but that they’ve having to do anything is awful.

    → 9:14 AM, 18 Jan

  • Most of the ground work and preparation for reconfiguring the new bathroom is done. And the new bath is now in! Should all start coming together next week with tiling and remaining fixtures and fittings. We’re getting there!

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 7:44 AM, 18 Jan

  • 🏉 Gutted to hear that Anthony Watson has had to retire due to injury problems. At his peak he was truly unplayable. What a loss.

    → 2:25 PM, 17 Jan

  • ⚽️ Yes! Great news.

    Arsenal Women have confirmed the full-time appointment of Renee Slegers as their Head Coach

    #ArsenalWomen

    → 1:35 PM, 17 Jan

  • This article by Joan Westenberg is the strongest essay on cynicism I’ve ever read. There’s lots of memorable paragraphs, but this in particular will stay with me:

    [Cynicism is] an emotional defense mechanism. If you expect the worst, you’ll never be disappointed. If you assume everything is corrupt, you can’t be betrayed. But this protection comes at a terrible price. The cynic builds emotional armor that also functions as a prison, keeping out not just pain but also possibility, connection, and growth.

    → 9:34 AM, 17 Jan

  • Casey Newton on Zuckerberg’s new desire for “masculine energy” within Meta and blaming Sheryl Sandberg for Meta’s previous diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts that are now being dropped:

    …for women in the workplace, few forms of masculine energy are more familiar than a top executive blaming a woman for the fallout of programs and policies that he agreed to and oversaw.

    → 7:37 AM, 17 Jan

  • Lovely write up from John Gruber on the new Nintendo Switch 2 announcement.

    But here’s Nintendo — perhaps the most humane company in the history of computing, and one that has never allowed either success or failure to distract it from its core mission of creating wholesome, clever, exquisitely well-designed fun games — with a much-anticipated announcement of something new that is purely about adding more joy to people’s lives.

    → 7:02 PM, 16 Jan

  • 📚 Making good progress with Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. She’s so good at characters and relationships. Her ability to capture the small nuances that shape the dynamics between people is delightful.

    → 2:30 PM, 16 Jan

  • ⚽️ Can’t complain about a win over Spurs, but I’m still worried about our lack of ability to put the ball on the back of the net! Should have had three or four goals tonight and made it much more comfortable. #Arsenal

    → 10:55 PM, 15 Jan

  • Needed to walk to Lidl to get a few items at lunchtime. I’m glad I popped out as it was stunning!

    A tranquil lakeside path is bordered by trees, with ducks swimming in the water under a clear blue sky.A peaceful lakeside scene features a bench on a dirt path and ducks swimming in the water, surrounded by trees with bare branches.A serene winter landscape features a frozen lake beside a tree-lined pathway under a clear blue sky.A serene winter landscape features a sunlit, frozen lake surrounded by bare trees, casting long shadows on the ice.An ornate wrought iron gate casts intricate shadows on the ground as sunlight filters through, with trees silhouetted in the background.A solitary wooden bench sits on a dirt path in a tranquil, sunlit forest, surrounded by bare trees.A wooden footbridge leads into a sunlit, tree-lined path with bare branches and a bright sun in the background.A peaceful forest path winds alongside a sunlit stream, with a wooden bench positioned among the lush greenery.
    → 2:54 PM, 15 Jan

  • Happy people have more relationships and warmer relationships

    Dr. Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development that began in 1938, shares his takeaway from the 86-year-long study on The Mel Robbins Podcast:

    The biggest takeaway is that the people who live the longest, stay the healthiest, and are the happiest are the people who have more relationships with other people and warmer relationships with other people. That the people who literally saw more people in a given week, the people who felt happier with their relationships actually lived years longer, and they stayed healthier. They didn’t develop the diseases of aging as soon, if they developed them at all, compared to people who were more isolated, who didn’t care about relationships.

    → 2:24 PM, 15 Jan

  • 🎬 Glad to see Conclave is up for 12 BAFTA awards. An absolutely stunning film.

    → 2:09 PM, 15 Jan

  • Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

    —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, from his sermon titled “The Most Durable Power,” delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on November 6, 1956.

    A good reminder that hate—like unforgiveness and bitterness—is always a form of self-harm.

    → 10:44 AM, 15 Jan

  • 354,000 people in England have no home (responsibility for housing is devolved). In the past five years their number has increased by 26%…

    —The Economist

    So disheartening. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but we must do better.

    → 10:28 AM, 15 Jan

  • ⚽️ Results tonight went about as well as we could have hoped for. Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, and Forest all dropping points is hopefully all the fuel we need ahead of the Spurs match tomorrow. Side note: incredible that Forest got a mention in that list—what a season they’re having! #Arsenal

    → 11:20 PM, 14 Jan

  • 🥃 Trying out my first English whisky tonight.

    → 8:30 PM, 14 Jan

  • A room filled with stacked cardboard boxes, various packages, and furniture against a colourful, patterned wallpaper.

    We have a new bathroom! It’s just currently all stacked up in our family room. Excited to see it start to come together more in the coming days though.

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 3:09 PM, 14 Jan

  • It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.

    —Charlie Munger, the American investor best known for being the longtime vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

    → 10:33 AM, 13 Jan

  • “The soul needs living models to grow.” Love this from Richard Rohr:

    The soul needs living models to grow, exemplars with the expansive energies of love. People who are eager to love change us at the deeper levels. They alone seem able to open the field of both mind and heart at the same time. When we’re in this different state—and that is what it is—we find ourselves open to directions or possibilities we would never allow or imagine before. 

    → 10:36 PM, 12 Jan

  • Back to back terrible cup games by Arsenal. Didn’t deserve anything from either game, didn’t get anything. Feel like we need to go back to the drawing board up front.

    → 6:56 PM, 12 Jan

  • Even as an Arsenal fan, the amount of time we take to do everything is so frustrating. It’s just so slow! And it’s all pretty boring too. Nothing very dynamic about anything we do at the moment.

    → 4:54 PM, 12 Jan

  • Teenagers seem to be spending less time with friends and Ofcom says the average British 11 or 12-year-old now spends 29 hours a week online, equivalent to a part-time job.

    Various contributors propose “10 ways to keep children off smartphones”.

    Lots of good ideas, but I particularly liked this one:

    Arrange a certain time every weekend or one day a week after school with neighbours to act like old-fashioned parents and encourage your children out of the house — and keep their phones inside.

    → 1:50 PM, 12 Jan

  • Really frustrating that European rugby has moved to Premier Sports. Considering that, literally, the only thing I’d watch is Leicester Tigers games, I just can’t justify £15.99 per month. So much better when TNT Sports had European rugby as well as the Premiership.

    → 4:34 PM, 11 Jan

  • File this under #HumansAreIdiots: Drone takes out Super Scooper fighting Los Angeles wildfires

    → 2:47 PM, 11 Jan

  • Interesting article in The Economist proposing a capitalist revolution as the solution African countries must embrace to avoid being the primary home of the world’s poor.

    Whether or not capitalism is the sole solution, this quote from the article makes apparent that something clearly needs to change:

    African countries are experiencing disruption without development. They are going through social upheavals as people move from farms to cities but without accompanying agricultural or industrial revolutions. Services, where ever more Africans find work, are less productive than in any other region—and barely more productive than in 2010.

    → 2:41 PM, 11 Jan

  • 📺 Finished watching Missing You, the latest Harlan Coben book that’s been adapted by Netflix this morning. Enjoyed it a lot. An easy, gripping watch that gets a 7/10 from me. Great to see Rosalind Eleazar (of Slow Horses fame) in a leading role too.

    → 11:57 AM, 11 Jan

  • It’s fascinating seeing how insecure these rich, powerful men are. Mark Zuckerberg going after Apple on the subject of innovation (or supposed lack thereof) when he’s spent his life’s work copying or buying other people’s work highlights such a deep lack of self-awareness and indeed self-confidence.

    → 7:32 AM, 11 Jan

  • Pretty astute take on Rachel Reeve’s missteps since becoming Chancellor.

    It’s not so much that Reeves’s policies are wrong – like any chancellor in a tight corner, she has few good options – but that her presentation has been so flat-footed. She’s just not a very good salesperson. Or politician, as we sometimes call such people.

    → 10:28 PM, 10 Jan

  • Day two of the bathroom do-over was much less dramatic. Lots of the groundwork was done with shifting water pipes around as everything is getting moved to different locations. Froze all day as the water and heating had to be off! 🥶

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 11:34 PM, 9 Jan

  • I never watched the first two series of Traitors, but our whole family are watching this third series. It’s so good! Such gripping, compelling television.

    → 11:29 PM, 9 Jan

  • Auto-generated description: A bathroom under renovation features exposed brick walls, a bathtub, a toilet, and a frosted window.

    Day one of our bathroom do-over. It’s going to be a challenging few weeks while the work is done, but I’m excited by the prospect of a new bathroom when it’s complete.

    New Bathroom 2025

    → 8:37 PM, 8 Jan

  • Had a bad feeling about tonight’s Arsenal game. And so it proved. Feel like we could have played all night and still not found a way to score.

    → 10:55 PM, 7 Jan

  • If you’re after an early indicator of the trajectory with a Trump/Musk-led America, Mark Zuckerberg’s thread about ending fact checking for all Meta products (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) does the job.

    → 10:02 PM, 7 Jan

  • Andrew Van Dam asks: “Are men finally pulling their weight around the house?”

    Though men are pulling more weight, it still isn’t evenly divided, dispite what men themselves think.

    Some interesting observations around cooking though, where men are definitely doing more than they used to.

    → 12:08 PM, 7 Jan

  • “11,520 moments today.” Great thoughts from my friend Dean Sharp (a home designer, builder, and host of the radio show “Home with Dean Sharp” on KFI AM 640) on regret, choices, and making the most of life’s moments.

    → 9:43 PM, 6 Jan

  • It is easier to build strong children than fix broken adults!

    —Steve Chalke

    Cheaper too!

    → 8:44 PM, 6 Jan

  • Made a few tweaks to the styling of my blog today. Small things, but they help make it feel more like mine, and hopefully easier to read—in light and dark mode.

    → 8:39 PM, 6 Jan

  • Arsenal look some way short of having what it takes to win the league this season, but Liverpool dropping points at home to that Man U side keeps the hope alive!

    → 8:29 PM, 5 Jan

  • Finished listening to ‘The Life Impossible’ by Matt Haig driving back from London. This was an interesting book, but it never truly grabbed me. I did finish it, but if I’d given up on it—which I did consider—I don’t think I’d have been that bothered. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

    A book cover for "The Life Impossible" by Matt Haig features a silhouette of an island with a house, a crescent moon, and birds against a blue background.
    → 6:41 PM, 5 Jan

  • Fun day out in London yesterday seeing Oliver the Musical and then ice skating at Somerset House.

    A group of people stands outside a theater displaying advertisements for a production of Oliver! in an urban setting.A group of people are sitting around a table enjoying a meal in a warmly decorated setting with a Christmas tree in the background.Two people are smiling in a theater, holding a program for Oliver!A man wearing glasses and a beanie poses with a young girl in front of a building illuminated with the word SKATE on top.Two people are ice skating together on an outdoor rink at night, surrounded by other skaters.People are ice skating at an outdoor rink with a large decorated Christmas tree and historic buildings in the background.A person walks along a wet train platform at East Finchley station on a snowy night.
    → 10:33 AM, 5 Jan

  • Some interesting books in this latest list from Adam Grant, the organizational psychologist and bestselling author: The 10 New Books to Feed Your Mind in 2025.

    → 10:57 PM, 4 Jan

  • I listened to a riveting conversation with Rhaina Cohen on The Ezra Klein Show while driving down to London today. It’s an episode called, “What relationships would you want if you believed they were possible?” and I know already it’s something that will stay with me for some time. It explores so many different relationships and expands the sense of what maybe could or even should be in widening and deepening our relationships.

    → 10:02 PM, 3 Jan

  • Good thoughts, as always, from Alex McManus:

    Complexipacity is the capacity to thrive in complexity. It’s not about simplifying the world around us—it’s about expanding ourselves. As individuals and as teams, we can learn to move beyond survival mode into a space of creativity and growth, using complexity as a catalyst for innovation…

    …Complexipacity isn’t a destination. It’s a mindset, a set of practices, and a way of being. As we embrace it, we’re not just navigating the world’s complexity—we’re helping to shape it.

    It’s 15 plus years since I first heard Alex talk on this theme. The insight has stayed with me ever since—and feels more relevant than ever.

    → 7:49 PM, 3 Jan

  • It’s still on my list of shows to catch up on, but the BBC have said that 19.3 million people have watched ‘Gavin & Stacey: The Finale’ so far. That’s crazy!

    → 3:46 PM, 3 Jan

  • Started reading Sally Rooney’s new novel ‘Intermezzo’ a couple of nights ago. She writes in such an interesting way and explores relationships from such a distinct perspective. Barely 50 pages in, but I’m engrossed.

    → 1:32 PM, 3 Jan

  • In case anyone has been thinking about trying out some Apple TV+ shows, the entire library is free this weekend (3rd – 5th Jan). Many of my favourite shows over the last few years have been from Apple—definitely worth checking it out if you haven’t.

    → 8:18 PM, 2 Jan

  • Back to work today. So not ready for this! Wish I’d taken off today and tomorrow and was returning on Monday. Lesson learned!

    → 2:50 PM, 2 Jan

  • That Arsenal win all felt surprisingly comfortable once we got ahead. Not complaining! Great to see such a strong performance from Nwaneri on his first Premier League start too.

    → 9:07 PM, 1 Jan

  • Jason Kottke: “…for my last post of the year, here’s a giant media diet recap of (almost) everything I read, watched, listened to, and experienced in the year of our lord 2024.”

    Great list! Grabbed a several ideas from this for listening and watching to this year.

    → 1:01 PM, 1 Jan
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