Wrote about the flaws, fallacies and flimsy evidence underpinning the Mel Robbins NYT estrangement article, which fundamentally misunderstands modern relationships - and a little bit about my book (on Substack) sarahmanavis.substack.com/p/life-too-s...

Sharing this five days late but after being galled by Jia Tolentino's sponcon I started a Substack and wrote about it, which you can find (free) here! If you like this/my work generally please subscribe for what will soon be more regular stuff sarahmanavis.substack.com/p/playing-du...

Good news! @sarahmanavis.bsky.social has joined Substack, better but much less surprising news, her first piece is excellent open.substack.com/pub/sarahman...

I have long been sceptical of her politics even though I often like her writing, but Jia Tolentino breaking her "RIGID personal sponcon ban" to do a collab with Airbnb – one of the main targets on the BDS list; when her last post was about fasting for Gaza – does feel a little on the nose

I wrote about what we want from our relationships – in dating, monogamy, even friendship – and the growing number of people not actually seeking real connections, but instead someone to playact a fantasy they learned online: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

There’s a real problem of low-hanging fruit in criticism atm where people keep doing “spicy” “takedowns” of art/people with no real power or relevance - or that no one even considers good. Critique should tell you something new or different, not go: “That bad thing? Well… it sucks!!!”

Some thrilling news from me: my debut book TELL ME ABOUT MYSELF, about the rise and impact of psychotherapy on how we see ourselves and each other, as well as my own experience in therapy over the last 20 years, will be published by HarperCollins in 2027 www.thebookseller.com/rights/harpe...

Some exciting, slightly belated news from me: as of this week I’ve joined the Observer where I’ll be writing across opinion, the magazine and on the new website - alongside some of my favourite editors and journalists. More soon but catch me there from this weekend!

Hello: I'm going to be on 5 Live this morning with Adrian Chiles from 11-12 – talking about Donald Trump, Jeffrey Goldberg, the spring statement and scatter cushions. Tune in! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Something about the Atlantic editor getting added to the war planning group chat thing feels very British

I really want to like this site, but every time I log on I feel like I've entered a simulation of the worst parts of UK politics Twitter in 2016

Muting this bc the some of the replies are more insane than the ones I've gotten on Twitter, but I want to emphasise this desire to avoid calling misogyny misogyny atm – which I think is partially an overcorrection on the left in response to the last decade of pop culture, but also is... misogyny!

People keep sharing this Sam Fender quote from the Sunday Times and while I think there is something in this – it feels bizarre that, in the midst of what is fundamentally a backlash against feminism + LGBT rights, everyone is so eager to dance around the obvious answer, which is primarily misogyny

Next week! I’m excited to be interviewing Shon Faye for Topping Books Edinburgh about her very brilliant new book Love In Exile. February 13 @ 7pm! Tickets available here: toppingbooks.co.uk/events/edinb...

I wrote about the philosophy of James Watt, the entrepreneur and former BrewDog CEO, and how thin his (self-conceived) reputation as a wellbeing champion has always been – and how long he has advocated for prioritising selfishness and self-preservation www.newstatesman.com/business/202...

I wrote about the philosophy of James Watt, the entrepreneur and former BrewDog CEO, and how thin his (self-conceived) reputation as a wellbeing champion has always been – and how long he has advocated for prioritising selfishness and self-preservation www.newstatesman.com/business/202...

Not the most important part here but the "DOGE" aspect does also affirm we're entering an era where the worst people you know will constantly be dropping the cry laughing emoji about the least funny shit you ever seen

Wrote for the New Statesman about why the hyper-examined life is not worth living – and the booming industry convincing perfectly healthy adults to anxiously obsess over made-up problems they don’t actually have www.newstatesman.com/politics/hea...

For the Observer, I wrote about why the smear campaign against Blake Lively managed to work so well, the obviousness of what happened and the terrible place we’ve reached in feminism—where it’s become trendy to preach but not (when push comes to shove) to practice www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

2. Prospect’s most-read pieces of 2024: message.prospect-magazine.co.uk/q/1f7AB7MWhL... My fav of those was @sarahmanavis.bsky.social’s essay on trad wives and other female influencers leading a backlash against feminism.

Lately i've been thinking about how many of the processes traditional media has used to build trust (an editorial bureaucracy, lots of editing, making work more concise, and hiding a lot of that work & presenting a polished finished product) now read to audiences as inauthentic & less trustworthy

Lot of very bad aspects to this, but I have to say a big silver lining to fewer young people on text-based apps is it lowers the chance of having an infuriating argument with someone only to click on their account and see "gaylor | 14"

I know the answer is “millions of people a month”, but I seriously need to know who is still falling for this guy’s grift www.bbc.com/news/article...

over the moon to have been awarded a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant for my forthcoming book - alongside such a brilliant group of writers. You can read more about it here: www.whiting.org/writers/crea...

There's something quintessentially British about someone walking around in loud, tacky, novelty Christmas apparel while looking absolutely furious

I wrote about Casey Newton's essay on AI skepticism, the uselessness of a "AI is real and dangerous" v. "AI is fake and sucks" dichotomy, and the limits of AI boosterism. thetechbubble.substack.com/p/the-phony-...

*long sigh* I wrote about following Gregg Wallace on Instagram over the last five years – and how his indignant response to these allegations is emblematic of the completely unfiltered persona we rarely see on Masterchef, but which has always thrived online www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

Since it's officially A Christmas Carol season, I wanted to reshare my piece for the Observer Magazine from earlier this year – about my partner and I reading aloud together and the emotional benefits of adults reading to each other (and why you should do it too): www.theguardian.com/books/articl...

Said this before however, imo, this is a well-intentioned but half-baked policy. It lets platforms off the hook for the harm they cause (and frankly is a way for politicians to pat themselves on the back for "doing something" while missing the target). Solves nothing while obscuring the real problem

Whatever you think of Taylor Swift, this is repulsive and you have to think was a deliberate choice from Billboard. Her victim complex is extreme, but you can understand why on some level when even the people literally giving her an award will try to humiliate her in the process

now the brands are running. now the murals are being painted over. but conor mcgregor has been showing us who he was for years. this week's column www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/n...

CREATIVITY FOR BACK

I find this the weirdest evergreen complaint. You get a free recipe and all you have to do is spend three seconds scrolling past a story - meanwhile, the people who want the story also get the story. Why does this inspire a viral post every six months?

(gratuitously) re-sharing my piece from last year on the aggressive ubiquity of these kinds of beige influencers, which makes it sort of amazing to imagine trying to sue someone for "copying" the most dominant lifestyle aesthetic among young women today www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This has a good bit on the new AI publishing start-up that aims to publish 8,000 books a year – and I'd love to ask people in publishing (increasingly populated by readers fuelled by a parasocial relationship with authors, who care about story) who they seriously believe is the audience for this

'The readiness to repudiate identity politics & group them under “bad woke” is less about policy and more about the fact that social justice never really found a home amongst liberals, who were happy to capture its energy but not its demands.' The week's column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I think Twitter had already begun to move away from this even pre-Musk, but it's easy forget how many people still used Twitter to find stories that took them to other parts of the internet – and, the more Twitter did that successfully, the more people returned to Twitter for that unique service

Woke up with a sore throat so I'm having a sick day in bed – what movies should I watch? No trash and no classics (my partner and I are doing a Hitchcock/pre-1980 project so can't leave him out). Hoping this site can function like old Twitter in this moment

I think not having drafts is a healthy way to force everyone to recalibrate how valuable a "tweetable" thought is

When are we getting the pile-ons going. At what time specifically

In awe of how many Twitter guys are popping up on here already: "wife in bio" guys, 5-figure following and follower guys, reposting other people's viral videos for clout guys, quote tweeting the tweet with the same exact post just slightly reworded guys

I will say – while bordering on a bit dull – I do think this site is triumphing over the other one in terms of logging on and not immediately wanting to jump out a window

I unfortunately think this site’s main vibe at the moment is very “you win the internet today, sir”

🎥: Why do some women like ‘trad wife’ videos? And why does it even matter? @sarahmanavis.bsky.social joins @ellenhalliday.bsky.social and @aloner.bsky.social on the Prospect Podcast. www.youtube.com/watc...

I know this is confirmed by each successively worse Trump appointment, but the discourse amongst liberals is also evidence of how badly we are cooked

I realise this is a popular policy (something like 60% public support) but it’s an extremely bad idea that let’s the govt pretend they’re addressing a serious issue while also giving social media platforms the ability to go “okay they’re essentially adults, what content they see is their choice now”

I can't decide if I think he actually wanted to drive anyone sane off that platform – if that was always the ultimate goal – or if it is really just the most likely thing: that he genuinely thought operating this way would, somehow, make that site popular or indeed profitable

The latest @prospectmagazine.bsky.social podcast is out, in which @ellenhalliday.bsky.social and I talk to @sarahmanavis.bsky.social about her recent piece for the mag on the women who hate feminism. Plus brilliant Isabel Hilton on the US, Trump and COP29 www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...

Didn't post it at the time bc I wasn't really here, but feels pertinent to share this piece I wrote last month about the boom in reactionary Gen-Z women—and the problems we'll face if we continue to treat the backlash to feminism as a solely gendered issue www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/philos...

With stiff competition, I think this has managed to be the thing that makes me think we are so fucked