And what job do you want to be signed off with stress from
And what job do you want to be signed off with stress from when you’re older?’
Uncategorized
Wednesday
It’ll be a lot scarier once it’s renationalised
‘It’ll be a lot scarier once it’s renationalised.’
If you see anything suspicious
Return the stick
‘Why do you feel the need to return the stick every time he throws it?’
Are antidepressants making you asexual?
Gen Z is often described as a sexless generation. We are having less sex than previous generations did at the same age. We are less likely to have been on a date. More of us identify as asexual. In fact, according to this Stonewall report, more Gen Z Brits identify as asexual (5 per cent) than gay (2 per cent) or lesbian (3 per cent). All kinds of cultural and social influences could explain this. Early exposure and addiction to online porn might be one. I’ve written about risk-aversion and fear of rejection as another. Increased awareness of asexuality too. But there is also, I think, a medical explanation. More specifically: the widespread use of SSRIs and their sexual side-effects.
I’m driven mad by tailgaters
It’s the flash that shocks you first. It’s night and you’re driving in the outside lane of the motorway at a speed that isn’t exactly the national limit, but isn’t so wildly in excess that it would raise eyebrows. Suddenly your car floods with the light of a thousand suns. The flash in the rear-view mirror alone is enough to dazzle. It’s not a speed camera – you know from bitter experience that it’s too fast, too furious for that. Has Putin detonated a tactical nuke over the last junction? That would actually feel less threatening. The flash comes again, and as your eyes readjust the mirror shows a pair
Hate people? Visit Iceland
No-one seems to like tourists any more. This week Venice introduced its €5 entry charge – which merely buys you the right to go into the city and be ripped off by cafes and restaurants. On Tenerife, residents have been marching and daubing slogans on the walls ‘tourist – go home’. So much for free movement. Meanwhile, in Japan, a village near Mount Fuji is so fed up with Instagrammers that it is erecting a giant screen to hide the mountain. Happy holidays! It was a trudge over ash and glacial gravels – which make for surprisingly easy walking Not to worry. If you want to go somewhere where you won’t bother the
Tuesday
Why the old are getting younger
Researchers at the Humboldt University of Berlin have discovered that we no longer consider ourselves old until we’re 74. What’s more, by the time you reach 74, you think old age begins at 77. Which is something to celebrate – just don’t tell the Department for Work and Pensions or they’ll get more bright ideas about pushing back the state retirement age still further (it’s already due to rise to 68 in the 2040s already, don’t forget). Sexual selection is increasing the prevalence of neoteny – that is the retention of juvenile traits As well as perceptions, of course, the facts about our ageing society speaks for themselves: when I was born
The problem with vets
A year or so ago my mum, 90, took her cat to the vet. She left an hour later, relieved of nearly £800. Her aged cat it appeared needed tests, a scan and various medicines. My mum lives in a poor area of London and is on a state pension. She has little spare money, but she loves that cat and when a vet says he needs tests, who was she to say no? Most of the other people using that vet are in similar circumstances. I was outraged so rang the HQ of the firm and got through to the medical director who told me he made no apologies for
Conspicuous luxury looks cheap
Street robbery has become an epidemic. Horrible thugs are stealing luxury watches and jewellery in broad daylight. The number of luxury watches stolen almost doubled in England and Wales between 2015 and 2022 – with 25,802 stolen in 2022. The problem is particularly bad in London, where the Metropolitan Police have set up a special unit to tackle the problem. Even the greediest thief isn’t about to strip your suit off your back It’s an unforgivable crime. Lock the muggers up and throw away the key. Of course people should be free to walk the streets, decked in gold and silver. Oh for the legendary days of medieval England when you
Monday
The myth of trauma
Everything is trauma. From Barbie’s Oscars snub (very traumatic) to Taylor Swift’s new album (also deeply traumatic), profound emotional distress appears to be everywhere. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), trauma requires ‘actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence’. A horrific car crash, a terrorist attack, an armed robbery, these all fit the bill. An Oscar snub does not. Why, then, do so many people appear to think of themselves as traumatised? It’s certainly a clickbaity concept, but it’s not a scientific one This raging fire of self pity is being fuelled by unqualified influencers who call themselves ‘trauma coaches’. They preach to their hundreds of thousands of followers, offering
A boomer’s guide to Gen Z slang
I recently had the pleasure of spending some time with my two teenage grandsons, who live in Dorset – 16-year-old Dylan and Isaac, who is 14. Listening to them chatting with their friends, I slowly realised that, half the time, I hadn’t a clue what they were on about. Peculiar words I’d never heard before peppered their ‘convos’. What, I wondered, could be the definitions of ‘leng’ and ‘peng’? What was the meaning behind the mysterious expression ‘SN’? And why did they sometimes exclaim: ‘That’s beg!’ As is the way of the world, a whole new slang vocabulary has been created by their Gen Z. Ah, the groovy bygone days so
Why are men so offended by my hair?
My annus horribilis was 1992. I was in fifth grade (aged ten) and had impulsively cut my hair short over the summer. I turned up to school with auburn ringlets billowing out and up from my head in a wavy sphere. Boy did it get the boys going: constant insults, including ‘Ronald McDonald’ (McDonalds’ clown mascot, known for his garish red hair), and heckling with the curiously racist insult ‘electric Afro woman’, shortened to ‘Zofro’. There was no laughing this off: it was a barrage, which came with volleys of burrs thrown at my hair and other projectiles. Only physical violence, months in, quietened it down: I had to kick
Friday
Inside the chaotic Household Cavalry stables
Churchill had his black dog tailing him around. I used to have black horses galloping through my head. They careered around out of control, rendering me so anxious that I couldn’t sleep the night before I was due to heave myself into the saddle as a civilian support rider for the Household Cavalry. So the sight of blood-spattered horses from the Household Regiment bolting through London this week dredged up some unwelcome memories. Red London buses and black taxi cabs flashed by in a blur. I really thought I was going to die For six months, I was a member of the coveted, informal club of civilians who got to
Why we love hideous food
I’m sitting on a stone terrace in the winsome south Breton port of Sainte Marine, which oversees France’s prettiest river (the Odet), and I’m excitedly tucking into a dozen gleaming Morbihan oysters. I am doing this partly because I am writing about travel in Brittany and oysters are very much part of the package here – you come to Brittany, you must consume oysters (also cake, cider, biscuits, tinned sardines and chunky buckwheat crepes). But I’m also eating oysters because I really love oysters. The idea is bad, the texture is worse – slimy, crunchy feathers and bones At this point I imagine a reasonable percentage of Spectator readers will
The stupidity of the former footballer pundits
It was the most dramatic moment of the whole football season. Having trailed 3-0 to the millionaires of Manchester United in their FA Cup semi-final, lowly Coventry had bravely fought their way back to 3-3 and extra time. And now, in the last minute of that extra time, they had broken away to score an incredible winner. Or had they? Immediately after Victor Torp’s shot beat Onana, and the sky blue end of Wembley erupted into pandemonium, the ITV broadcast footage rewound to the critical moment – when the defence-splitting pass was made that led to the goal. So what did the designated expert think at this critical moment? ‘He’s onside,’ said
Farewell to the jump season with three bets
As the curtain falls on another jumps’ season tomorrow, the ups and downs of ante-post betting are all too apparent once again. Threeunderthrufive, put up three weeks ago at 20-1, is now 7-1 second favourite for the bet365 Gold Cup (tomorrow, 3.35 p.m.) at Sandown. With his favoured good ground almost guaranteed, he will have a live chance of defying top weight in the 20-runner contest. My second ante-post bet in the race, Desertmore House, had looked an even better proposition. Put up two weeks ago at 25-1, he was heavily backed into 7-1 second favourite. He, too, had his favoured good ground looming only for his trainer Martin Brassil
Wednesday
We’re looking for people to stand as Conservatives
‘We’re looking for people to stand as Conservatives.’
