For decades, we’ve been debating the horrific dystopian world depicted by George Orwell in 1984. I particularly remember the old reassuring adage: putting the Party controlling machinery in place would be unfeasible because of technicalities. Too many cameras, too much maintenance, too many people required to be “on...

I watched two impressive videos over the past few days. I believe they effectively sum up a great deal of what have been impacting the UK and beyond, over the last decade or so. Firstly, Patrick Boyle provides a clear explanation of the effects of Brexit since 2016, as well as the underlying significance of both the...

I just came back from an extended stay in Italy. My dad was in hospital, but while I initially underestimated the problem, this time it turned serious. As his health was quickly deteriorating, I got on the first flight and rushed to see him. For the last four decades, I have been convinced he would go with a heart...

A few weeks ago I wrote about RSS, talking about Terry Godier’s posts and arguing about the need for a different experience with reading feeds. My initial thought was that his new RSS client, Current, was incapable of doing what Fraidycat does — show the original website instead of a sanitised read mode that strips...

As a quintessential Cold War child, still fixated on it, I periodically revisit films and documentaries about its most prickly moments. For years, I’ve observed, and occasionally joined, debates surrounding the two key films that managed to capture the 1980s collective paranoia: nuclear annihilation. The first, in...

One of those days when seeing your name featured in an article published by a major UK music magazines is rather disconcerting. While going through my feeds the other day, I came across an article about a local music band I previously collaborated with, Ember Rev. Their third album, which I mixed in 2019, has...

Noticing how less meaningful I've been finding my RSS reading habit, I went on the lookout for possible reasons. First, I really dislike the idea of reducing a sizeable part of my internet usage to a standardised homogenous experience. Imagine going to a bookshop and see all the books printed with the same style,...

Things are still in suspension mode. World and private events clash and overlap, creating this sense of disbelief, mixed with slivers of hope. Lately, I’ve been exchanging long (and sometimes short) emails with several people, which is good. I still don’t get how common the idea is that if you’re not participating...

Navigating the complex feelings following a death in the family is never easy, and while it does become more manageable in time, the hole it leaves is never fully healed. You’d think that having had several losses across the years would somehow smooth the impact, while in truth, it never changes. It’s not possible...

It'll be a while until I can be able to find any meaningful words to describe my 2025 Christmas. I’ve been living away from my hometown since 1996, which is when I started deluding myself with a now pointless certainty: the idea that distance would help my innate inability to accept things that end, people who die,...

My latest post generated an unusual amount of email exchanges. The back-and-forth was fantastic, rich, and inspiring, pushing me to contemplate more ways in which noise affects me these days. One letter, in particular, picked my curiosity. Wrote by Noa, its overture was: I’m a fairly long term reader of your blog. I...

December has arrived, quietly. It often rains, at times windy. I put almost everything on hold, and the resulting calm is something to cherish. November has been silent, for the most part, with a lot of working from home due to health issues. Rewatching old TV shows at night, reading blog post and long articles,...