New year's niceness

It's about that time of year when we all start getting a bit John and Yoko-ish about life – you know what I mean, the inevitable "Another year over, and what have you done?" period of reflection. For me, this invariably means unearthing my list of resolutions, set 12 months ago in a fit of optimism in some long forgotten notebook, and seeing just how many of them I failed...

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Postcards from the past

Every now and then, one of my best friends sends me a completely priceless gift. I'm never sure when exactly this gift is going to arrive, or what exactly it's going to contain, but what I do know is that it's guaranteed to make me smile. What is it? A letter. It might seem strange, in the age of instant gratification, when we're at each other's constant beck and call, slaves...

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The 'quiet ones'

Last week, I went to see Laura Marling play, and she was just as wonderful as ever. She's tiny, but her stage presence is what a music journalist might refer to as 'commanding' – she walks onto the stage a little tentatively, but once that guitar's in hand, there's no doubt in anyone's mind as to who's in control. She owns each song completely, strumming her way through...

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The Bette Effect

When I was younger, had you asked me to reveal my favourite Disney character, I would have replied quite emphatically that it was Aurora, the beautiful blonde Sleeping Beauty. She would have been closely followed by the equally beautiful, free-spirited Pocahontas, with Esmerelda, the pretty gypsy who captured the Hunchback's heart with her curly hair and her strong...

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Cynicism go...

Unless you've been hiding under a rock somewhere this week, you'll know that Pokemon Go is officially go in the UK. Pokemon passed me by the first time round, so while I might just about know my Pikachu from my Jigglypuff, the urge to download it hasn't taken hold as of yet. Lots of people I know however are well and truly on the Pokemon hype: while my target stumbling...

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Going phone-free

Digital detoxes are a complete cliché by now. We've all read the magazine feature or watched the Youtube video where the Internet addict goes cold turkey for a weekend, at home or in some far flung, zen-heavy type tropical location. But I've realised that for years (quite literally) and in all the time I've been reading and watching things about these experiments, I hadn't...

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The Magic touch

At my house, there's a worn out copy of Micky Flanagan's stand up tour 'Back in the Game' on DVD, which I stick on occasionally when I could do with a laugh. Last week, after coming to the end of my latest Netflix binge and not being in the mood for the gloom and gore of Peaky Blinders, I put it on once again. This time, thankfully, I wasn't watching in the presence of...

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