Latest Stories from Jessica
Global cities set alcohol and firework bans ahead of New Year’s Eve
Hoping to ensure safer New Year celebrations for all, several global cities are introducing alcohol and firework bans, while others are closing off central areas altogether. December 31st is arguably the worldβs biggest annual celebration, with friends and family gathering together to usher in the start of a new calendar year. Alcohol, fireworks, and excited crowds are all characteristic of end-of-year festivities, but the over-the-top celebrations we associate with New Yearβs...
UK prisons hosting a record number of activists this Christmas
As many as forty people between the ages of 22 and 58 will be spending Christmas in UK prisons. This record-breaking figure is attributed to the high number of arrests at climate change protests and demonstrations related to Israelβs actions in Gaza. This year, a record-breaking number of UK protestors will be spending Christmas behind bars. With forty activists between the ages of 22 to 58 locked up across Britain in...
Opinion β social media platforms will see a mass exodus in 2025
Social media hasnβt been around for long, with the first platforms emerging less than thirty years ago. In this short time, theyβve become a breeding ground for annoying bots, rampant online hate, and the poor mental health of their users. Will they survive another year? By now, anyone with access to social media platforms will be well aware of the dangers they pose to our mental health. An ever-expanding mountain of...
your 2025 reading list
best reads from this year (and some from last year, too) Iβve heard a million times that becoming a great writer requires writing as much and as often as you can. While this is true, I believeΒ readingΒ as much and as often as you can β exposing yourself to new themes, writing styles, and vocabulary β can be just as useful. So, as all overly-optimistic Goodreads users do, I set out a...
Apple sued by Democratic Republic of Congo for illegal mining
The DRCβs lawyers have stated that tech giant Apple has knowingly sourced minerals from conflict zones in East Africa while publicly painting itself as sustainable and ethical. Β The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed lawsuits in both Paris and Brussels claiming that tech-giant Apple purchased illegal βblood mineralsβ from its conflict zones for use in its product lines. Filed against the Apple European subsidiaries, the lawsuit states that the company...
Musicians could lose β¬4 billion to generative AI every year
A first-of-its-kind economic study predicts that, in just four years, a quarter of music artists could see their earnings sabotaged by the rise of AI generated tracks. Itβs getting harder and harder to trust the authenticity of βleakedβ songs from our favourite artists these days, and thatβs all thanks to the rapidly improving capabilities of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). In just a few minutes, the vocal likeness of top artists can...
this is not a gift + guide
uninterested in boxing myself in (pun fully intended) Hello my winter sunshine, my hot cocoa by the fire. Itβs around that time where we all start breaking up for the holidays and I donβt know about you, but the prospect of that feels both exciting and much-needed! Hopefully youβve all got some lovely plans to look forward to in the coming weeks. To carry us over until then, this weekly newsletter is...
Opinion β it’s time to abandon our ‘always on’ culture
While smartphones have granted humans the remarkable ability to stay in touch from anywhere in the world, we need to acknowledge the consequences of never getting a chance to properly 'shut off'.Β Throughout history, no other group of human beings have lived the way we do, that is, completely immersed in and unable to escape a culture of being βalways onβ and βavailableβ. The seamless connectivity offered by modern technology...
‘v’ is for vigilante + vendetta
the internet is not-so-divided over this murderous ivy leaguer Hello to all of you wonderful people π Global news during this last week has been especially wild, from theΒ murder of a healthcare companyβs CEOΒ in NYC, toΒ intense rebel activity in Syria, and ongoingΒ political instabilityΒ in South Korea. With the latest edition of our newsletter, I hope to shed a little bit of light on your week. This week...
Why has the price of coffee hit an almost fifty-year high?
Coffee prices have been on a steady incline for the last few decades, but in 2024 the price of the worldβs most popular bean variety has increased by 70 percent. Whatβs behind this rapid change? Feeling scammed whenever you pay your local coffee shop Β£3.40 for your flat white? Well hold on, because that figure might just rise in the coming months. New reports have revealed that prices for Arabica coffee...
