For any decent parent of a teenager, watching Adolescence was probably like being hit by a bus—except instead of a quick, merciful end, you were left semi-conscious and forced to watch your child scroll through TikTok while some internet fraudster filled their head with populist twaddle. The drama didn’t just highlight the dangers of social media influence; it was a wake-up call for parents who have (understandably) been clinging to the ...
The government’s latest round of proposed welfare cuts is, predictably, being framed as a crackdown on fraud and fairness. For those of us who have seen first-hand the scamming that goes on within the benefits system, it’s tempting to nod along. No one likes the idea of people playing the system while others work hard. But once again, the real focus seems to be on those at the bottom, while the industrial-scale abuse of Britain’s wealth ...
The Fateful Phone Call
The other day, I was minding my own business when my phone rang – not with the usual banter from a friend or client, but with a call from the taxman doing a survey about IR35. Despite having done nothing remotely wrong, my mind immediately spiralled into a full-blown disaster movie. In an instant, I was envisioning secret conspiracies, shadowy figures in sharp suits plotting to raid my bank account, and an inevitable ...
I’ve recently encountered the term “cognitive dissonance” repeatedly in the media, and until now, I hadn’t quite grasped what it truly meant. After some thought and reflection, I’ve come to understand it in a much clearer, more personal way.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance?
Cognitive dissonance is essentially that uneasy feeling you get when your beliefs and actions don’t quite match up. It’s as if your head and heart are ...
America, once the self-declared land of the free, is hurtling towards something chillingly familiar—Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but with worse food and even more guns. With Donald Trump poised for a return to power, the country stands on the brink of a far-right, theocratic nightmare, where civil liberties are stripped away in the name of religious extremism.
A Nation Under Religious Rule
The warning signs could not be ...
