Latest Stories from Jessica
A failing NHS is causing patients to self-diagnose and self-medicate
What happens when Googling your health symptoms and self-medicating is more efficient than getting a doctor’s appointment? Just ask the millions of people who depend on free healthcare services in the UK. Last year, medical patients in the UK claimed it was ‘easier to see the Pope than a doctor,’ and raged further when their long-awaited GP visits lasted less than five minutes. The NHS now says that average...
not your average ins + outs list
Here we are… the final day of the 2024. In the middle of this year, the Thred writers decided to embark on our Substack journey. We had no idea what we were getting into, nor did we anticipate how much we’d love it, but each of these unpredictable factors made it all the more exciting. Through our Tuesday newsletter and weekend Wildcard posts, we’ve been able to show you a different,...
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 world’s 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 Year’s...
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 Israel’s 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 – social media platforms will see a mass exodus in 2025
Social media hasn’t been around for long, with the first platforms emerging less than thirty years ago. In this short time, they’ve 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) I’ve heard a million times that becoming a great writer requires writing as much and as often as you can. While this is true, I believe reading as much and as often as you can – exposing yourself to new themes, writing styles, and vocabulary – 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 DRC’s 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. The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed lawsuits in both Paris and Brussels claiming that tech-giant Apple purchased illegal ‘blood minerals’ 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 €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. It’s getting harder and harder to trust the authenticity of ‘leaked’ songs from our favourite artists these days, and that’s 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. It’s around that time where we all start breaking up for the holidays and I don’t know about you, but the prospect of that feels both exciting and much-needed! Hopefully you’ve all got some lovely plans to look forward to in the coming weeks. To carry us over until then, this weekly newsletter is...
Opinion – 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'. 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 ‘always on’ and ‘available’. The seamless connectivity offered by modern technology...
