33 good things from 2025

They're finally here

Happy New Year, friends!

Now that we’re well into 2026, I thought it was time to share some of my top things from 2025. Okay.

2025 in brief: spent a month in Barcelona, fell apart, took on less work, started lifting weights, bought a CD player, quit nicotine pouches with the help of a hypnotist, tried and failed to reunite Doggy Heaven, made some art, fell apart again when Hyko died, got a new piano, kept our children alive.

2026 in brief: read more books, write more music, make more art, lift more weights, work less, run faster, reunite Doggy Heaven, send more of these emails, keep our children alive.

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My favourite 33 things from 2025

Books

• Oliver Burkeman — Meditations for Mortals
  A self-help book that’s not shit.

• Jean Hannah Edelstein — Breasts 🏆
  Essential whether or not you have breasts.

• Andy Greenberg — Lords of Crypto Crime
  Real-life crime thriller complete with crypto bros.

• Rory Stewart — Politics on the Edge
  Gripping explainer on why UK politics is a mess.

• Tony Tulathimutte — Rejection
  Disgusting short stories for the terminally online.

• Sarah Wynn-Williams — Careless People
  Cheery read full of reasons to hate Meta.

Podcasts

• The Birth Keepers
  Two influencers radicalise pregnant women. Proceed with caution.

• Heavyweight
  Tricky conversations and thorny reunions.

• The Rest is Politics
  Helps me make sense of the mess we’re living in.

• Search Engine 🏆
  Knotty questions, answered. My go-to listen.

• Shell Game
  A company staffed by AI agents. What could go wrong?

Records

The links below take you to a Spotify playlist that has one song from each record. I know Spotify is bad! I use it for research then buy records that I like in a physical format. Not a perfect solution but it works for me.

• Billy Nomates — Metalhorse

• Couch — Big Talk

• Flock of Dimes — The Life You Save

• Great Grandpa — Patience, Moonbeam

• Tobias Jesso Jr. — s h i n e 🏆

• Nine Sparks Riots — Breathers

• The Vernon Spring — Under a Familiar Sun

• Vulfmon — Deg

• Vulfpeck — Clarity of Cal

• The Weather Station — Humanhood

• Whitney — Small Talk

• Denison Witmer — Anything at All

TV

• A Man on the Inside

• The Bear

• Dying for Sex

• Hacks

• The Line of Duty

• Mo

• Platonic

• Somebody Somewhere 🏆

• Taskmaster

• Time

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I hope you find something new to enjoy. As ever, I’d love to hear your highlights from 2025, dreams for 2026, hot takes, recommendations, etc.

Your friend,
Luke