Good evening,

How about that general election, huh? I was having a productive week before it and then my obsession with all things political took over and then...nothing happened. Well, not nothing. There was that Massive Tory Majority. So I spent the back half of this week looking for silver linings, as you might imagine. Yet every time I think I find one, a piece of news pops up that trims that shoot of optimism just as it breaks the surface.

It's a funny place to be in, this. I have so much I want to say (or at least think I want to say) but I also have never been less interested in my own opinion. While I've found it slightly soothing to try and find the interesting angles on the result or to formulate an acceptable understanding for what hapaened, I just wonder if I'd really be adding anything to the world by sharing it. Likewise, the fallout has given rise to a host of awful takes and I've crafted a lot of sharp lines of rebuke in my head that I've promptly thrown away because I would definitely be making the discourse worse for my contribution. (I'll say though: If your self-reflection in defeat ends at: "Basically, I was almost totally right" maybe keep going);

So while I imagined this newsletter would probably be a grand dissection of what happened and what to do next, I can't rouse it in myself and I'll keep it very brief this week. I have one half-thought that has a link to writing craft so l'll give that a whirl if you'll indulge me.

When I teach writing, I often give students this formulation for considering characters: What do they look like, what do they act like, what are they really like (or 'what is the truth of them'?). Having divergence between these three axis allows for more interesting characters. I wonder if this doesn't somewhat apply to politics and policy. You're more likely to be compelled by something you're uncertain about if it 'looks' different to what they really are (or what you expect them to be). Certain policies might be unpopular...but can be made more intriguging with the right person fronting  it, the person you didn't expect to support it but who you like anyway. Similarly, other ideas that might well have broad support find no cut through when presented by the expected parties.

I don't know, perhaps that's too much of a reach, I haven't fully gamed this out in my head, but some dissonance between message and messenger is surely a little bit useful. Something I'll mull over in the upcoming Labour leadership elections, which will be another wonderful opportunity for my friends to hate me and vice-versa.

Promise you'll get a fuller newsletter next week, probably an end of 2019 round up, with some craft stuff about how to pitch and reflections I've had from doing a fair bit of mentoring this year. (e

KITTY KORNER

Now we're in the depths of winter I spent a lot of time sitting on the sofa with a blanket over me. Chill Cat will often come prospecting on this new territory, searching out new blanketed nooks to smuggle himself into. It is devastatingly cute and, as I've mentioned before, moving him feels like a proper crime.

Also! A small story of connection. I met a young Polish couple, Marty and Raf, a couple of years ago via Pretty Cat. They were outside my flat, petting him when I introduced myself as the (very new) owner. It turned out they had just moved into a flat around the corner and didn't know that many people but were very much taken by this raccoon-tailed boi. I said I'd be happy to show them a local pub one day and we swapped details. Since then we've met a fair few times, including on one very memorable New Year's Eve (Robbie O'Neil if you're reading this...). 

Alas they went on to move away from the area, but today they came over once again to see Pretty and Chill and I remembered just how much I liked them. It was equally joyful to see how much delight they got from the cats. Sleeping at heights, pooping into boxes, fostering international friendships - is there anything those creatures cannot do?

x

P.S. If you're wondering what happened to the bets I mentioned last week, they all came through. I wish I felt happier about it.

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