Category: General Chatter

  • “I will just stare at the walls”
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    “I will just stare at the walls”

    These were the words of a young school pupil, asked by the BBC how she would replace her 9-hour daily screen time once the UK social media ban comes into effect. The UK social media ban planned for 2027 is controversial among thousands, possibly millions, of young people who will be affected, despite 90 per…

  • The Beautiful Game
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    The Beautiful Game

    With last week’s post on travel being the far biggest read in a single day, it prompted me to wonder why….Travel takes on many guises, from the beach and clubbing med, cultural city breaks, the Scottish Highlands, 60k a day bike rides (really, Joan?), to climbing the Andes, but I suppose we all share one…

  • “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list”.
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    “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list”.

    There are many wonderful things about growing older, but one key aspect is following the happiness mantra of only doing what you love (waking up with the sun, enjoying plenty of coffee, devouring newspapers) and doing less (or none) of the things you dislike (setting the alarm, catching the tube, corporate politics). When I left…

  • Creating a new species.
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    Creating a new species.

    Ironic after last week’s post to now be writing from the Sentient Futures Conference at UCL in London. Sitting on a sunny, warm bench after the first two talks of the day, I already feel I am witnessing a phenomenal shift in our world. I’m in academic heaven. Feeling part of something that is intellectually…

  • Molly vs The Machines.
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    Molly vs The Machines.

    “You should watch this documentary if you want to understand, but I won’t be watching it with you”. These were the words from one of my closest friends who with inexplicable pain lost his daughter to suicide five years ago. I watched the film on Channel 4, and now write about it, because it is…

  • Turns out I speak 2 languages fluently.
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    Turns out I speak 2 languages fluently.

    Languages fascinate me. Probably because I can only speak one fluently (and a smattering of two others) when there are, amazingly, 6500 different languages in the world. Linguistics is another specialist field for the Anthropologist, studying how they are formed, how we use them in our everyday lives, and how they shape us. Think “brummy”…

  • David Attenborough, thank you!
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    David Attenborough, thank you!

    Yes, I also want to congratulate David Attenborough on his special birthday today and personally thank him, along with all the teams supporting him, for the hundreds of hours of stunning footage of the natural world. I’m thick into reading about the ‘Natural World’ at the moment in preparation for my Master’s dissertation. I am…

  • “Our Power Our Planet”
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    “Our Power Our Planet”

    Today is EARTH DAY. This year’s Earth Day Theme is “Our Power Our Planet”. Emphasising that it is people power, not only Government power, that can save our planet from the effects of climate change. This feels like a ‘big ask’ at the moment. When people and their communities, all over the world, feel ravaged…

  • Where have I been?
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    Where have I been?

    This is a question I asked myself today, after opening my blog for the first time in 11 months. I would love to report that I have been on a world tour or something similar, but the truth is far less glamorous. For the last 7 months, bar a spot of Camel Wrestling (which itself…

  • Never say never
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    Never say never

    I have no plans to do this ( “never say never” ) but…. if I was to set up a conservation project, how would I do this? How can you make them really count? I have had many hours to ponder this over the last 2 weeks. Of course there is always the tea and…