That actually fills me with joy to read.

It certainly did. It certainly got me playing again!

I prefer Chess, but they’re both fantastic. The last couple of years, it really feels like Chess has shot back into the mainstream - and it’s exciting!

I’ll see what I can do :)

I actually think the privatized model works well for telecommunications companies, but only with strict and heavy regulation. For the same reason as it works with supermarkets, it forces the networks to compete and ultimately keep prices down. But that regulation needs to prevent the large players from merging and buying up competition.

Masts and other infrastructure should be nationalized though, and any networks wishing to use the infrastructure would then have to contribute to funding it. Similar to openreach, but properly nationalized and truly neutral.

Very much this vibe!

The sweetness if fine, offset by lashings of salt and butter (or butter alternative).

I just have to stop for a moment when I realise I’m covering a pan of oats with… the liquid from what would have been another pan of oats at some point. Oatception.

PS: Thanks!

I hate to be a bore, and regurgitate the same “leftie” discourse that gets repeated a lot online, but:

Royal Mail would become “financially and operationally unsustainable in the long term”

This is because Royal Mail has become private and is now required to become profitable / increase it’s value over time. Which is nonsense. It should be a public service funded by a mix of direct payment (e.g. stamps) and taxation.

If continuing to run six days per week, as the are currently obliged to, has become unsustainable then perhaps it is time it returns to public ownership.

Oat milk, by far. I find it tastes the best of them all in coffee and tea, and works well in things like mashed potatoes too. I do also put it in porridge, but that feels… Uncomfortable.

Yes, no long commuting has slashed my podcast listening time too. I now only listen to them on the school run (if my son wants to listen too), or during chores.

I managed to reach level 8, but cannot beat that one. Is there a solution you know of? (Not asking you to share it, only to confirm)

My favourite three are:

• Darknet Diaries
  I imagine this one is familar to most podcast fans that might stumble upon this post. The host is a fantastic interviewer, storyteller and producer. He interviews incredibly interesting people and shares their stories about all things dark net: hacking, social engineering, dark web, darknet markets and more.

• Self-Hosted
  A podcast about all things self-hosted. The two hosts are passionate self-hosters who like to discuss open-source solutions, self-hostable products and technical setups. They are highly experienced and have a ton of useful information to share. They have great guests on the show, and have built a brilliant community around the topic.

• Coding Blocks
  A general software engineering podcast. I find some episodes a bit hit or miss, but the three hosts are hilarious, informative and very entertaining. You can tell they are three very close friends who absolutely vibe off of one another. They cover all sorts of topics including programming languages, development tools, books, conferences, frameworks, companies and more.