Get in the sea, 2022. We’re done with you.

Adam Tinworth

Dec 31, 2022 — 4 min read

All I want for New Year is a year that I’m not glad to see the back of.

2020? Get in the sea (in a socially distanced way)
2021? Eff orf and keep effing off.
2022? War, and energy crisis and financial crisis, and… oh, get in the sea. Where there’s loads of sewage.

C’mon 2023, be the little year that could!

Life on a Dying Revue

Update on the “newsletter on a dying platform” experiment:

Four bounces (unsubscribed)
Three manual unsubscribes (wise people)
One new subscriber (welcome, Mark!)

And now…

More random interesting reading I’ve had stored up, for the very last time this year.

Vladimir Putin, accidental green superhero

This has been a quiet obsession of mine for some months. Once it became clear that (a) Putin had badly miscalculated in his invasion of Ukraine and that (b) energy was his major export and lever of power against the rest of the world, the world woke up. We very clearly can’t afford to rely on Russia for our energy, and if we have to transition, we might as well transition for sustainable sources.

Old Vlad the Invader might well end up as the world’s most unlikely green superhero.

Signs of a magnetic pole flip in company ownership

Interesting wee speculative piece that looks at the impact of employee ownership on companies — and wether they could end up more competitive in the market, leading to a profound shift in corporate ownership structures.

Victor Lewis-Smith: Journalist and satirist dies aged 65

Back in the 90s, when I was a budding little journalist, there was a small coterie of writers who really influenced my writing style. The more harsh, satirical edge to my writing has been somewhat blunted by the careers choices I’ve made since, but in those early days, Victor Lewis-Smith was a real inspiration to me.

It saddens me that his death passed me by.

All Possible Plots by Major Authors

This is my Hogmanay gift to you: an excuse to to make some soul-crushingly worthy resolution to read more serious authors this year. Read one of their books, and you’ve read them all.

Forbidden Planets,Tin Pans and London’s eternal trick

Some of the links in this newsletter have been in my Revue queue for a long time. This one, for example, is two years old, but is a lovely reflection on how London (and cities generally) evolve.

Women Are No More Emotionally Turbulent Than Men

It’s almost like most gender stereotypes are a bunch of 🐴💩, isn’t it?

My three decades alone, basking in the company of a mountain

This could be titled “Diary of an Accidental Hermit” - although, she’s not really a hermit. But she’s chosen a life of deep solitude, and the post-Christmas period, when we’ve all overdosed on parties and extended family makes this incredible attractive…

Free Returns Are Complicated, Laborious, and Gross

Free returns are pretty much an essential part of our new post-pandemic, online-centric retail world. we certainly take advantage of it in our household - my wife really dislikes shopping (see what I meant about gender stereotypes?), and so she hits the iPad hard when she (or our daughters) need new stuff.

But we really don’t abuse it like some of the people in this article. And, yes, this is essentially another supply chain story. Who would have guessed three years ago that we’d be reading so many of them?

The on-page headline reads much worse to Brits, incidentally.