To the tune of “We don’t take about Bruno” — About two weeks ago, we finally upgraded our electricity meter to a smart meter. This is where you get a minute-by-minute update of how much your electricity usage is costing you and where readings are sent to the supplier automatically. Since then, it’s been an eye-opening experience about just how…

Pro-natalists no longer pretending it isn’t about economic utility — I’ve written before about pro-natalism and the birthing cult side of neoliberalism. Previously, it was Pope Francis and Elon Musk warning about dropping birthrates. We know why those two don’t want birthrates to drop and want us to breed for the greater glory of the stock market. Musk and the…

A guide to cynical exploitation with minimum budget — Hello CEO. You’re here now having paid a lot of money for this course, so I’m guessing you’d like to know How To Do Corporate Advocacy in 2022 and fool your employees and customers into believing that you care about the current Awareness Month. You’ve hired a Diversity Officer on…

Let’s get back to quality environments over quantity — Gaming is one of my main ways to relax and so-called open world is one of the most casual and relaxing ways to game. It appeals to my enjoyment of just exploring an environment at my own pace. The Ezio Trilogy showed exactly what the games can do in world…

A sci-fi horror classic which somehow blends terror and comfort — Warning: there are spoilers in this article You’d think that “horror” and “comfort” shouldn’t exist in the same sentence, right? After all, horror films are designed to scare. Yet for me, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine stands alone at an intersection of edge of the seat horror, awe-inspiring science fiction epics, and…

You need to rethink this attitude — When non-essential retailers in the UK were permitted to reopen after the first lockdown in 2020, it began a wave of “Don’t buy from Amazon! Support your local indie bookshop instead!” Ultimately well-meaning and driven by a desire to help the smallest businesses, it’s a simplistic way to look at…

Because Self-Assessment Anxiety is a thing — Right, okay, HMRC website. Yes log in. Click, start entering my login details. Oh no not yet. Let me just check my figures one more time — make sure I didn’t accidentally claim £20,000 for that £20 memory foam cushion. Did I? No, I didn’t. Am I really using the…

Just wait to find out what I’ll do with the money saved from Prime! — Another week, another survey blaming young people’s lack of ability to buy a house on a frivolous luxury. In 2019 it was avocado toast. Now it’s the turn of Netflix. There is a massive problem with these kinds of ridiculous and prejudicial claims — especially when you ask a single…

What is it, what did it do, and is it still relevant today? — Political documents that lay down our rights are treasured for what they tell us about that country’s attitude as well as what they confer on us as a born or adopted member of that country. Contrary to widespread belief, it was not the first document to define legal rights for…