3 MINUTE MONDAY

Hi friend,

Videos of protests against rising immigration near my hometown of Stockton-on-Tees trended on Twitter yesterday.

My expectations are not high for Middlesbrough, and they were appropriately met.

I’m sure that most of the people who protested were peaceful and respectful and informed and great.

I’m also sure there’s some actual racists in the protests.

This isn’t about them.

This is about the people who took bricks and broke the windows of houses that were under construction, and those who smashed vacant taxis, and those who cheered and laughed while they did it.

Many people in Britain feel that the UK is prioritising migrants over British citizens.

Indeed, Good Morning Britain recently asked its viewers the question “is multiculturalism working?” and 95% of respondents said “no it isn’t”.

I don’t think multiculturalism is working in the UK, I think that immigration is a huge mess and citizens are right to demand change.

But the people in this weekend’s vandalism videos do not have a thought-out position on immigration.

Their ire and aggression is not in response to failed multiculturalism in Britain.

They don’t have a nuanced understanding of migrant issues and how they affect working class towns.

They want to break things because they’re bored and angry and this is one of the few areas where they have control over the outcomes in their lives.

Immigration problems are not the cause for many of these people, it’s the excuse.

They’ve simply been given a reason to get out in the streets and be angry, like if it was unusually sunny or a Bank Holiday Monday.

These people are angry because aggression is their culture.

They feel like they have no control in their lives.

It’s because they’re bored and hopeless and take pleasure in breaking things.

And there are no positive role models to tell them otherwise.

It may be hard for someone who didn’t grow up in a northern British industrial town to understand, but I lived in this very area for the entire first half of my life and was in full time education there for 13 years.

There is a raw working class rage which burbles just below the surface at all times.

It’s difficult to describe but it’s kind of like when there’s a thunderstorm and the air is electric, a sort of ambient malevolence.

Kids in school used to bully anyone who had anything nice from fresh shoes to a new backpack.

Competence or aspiration or diverging from the norm was seen as a threat and something to be directly stamped out.

After school, they’d harass people outside of corner shops and run their keys down the paintwork of nice cars.

Then they got older, but didn’t grow up.

These people are disgruntled, poor, hopeless and aimlessly angry.

Some protestors are angry with righteousness, others with bigotry, and others simply with their nature.

Immigration is not the cause, it’s the excuse.

MODERN WISDOM

I do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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This week’s upcoming episodes:

Monday.
Tulsi Gabbard - a Former US Representative breaks down what’s happening inside the government. Is Kamala fit for president? Why did RFK Jr’s campaign fail? What can we expect over the next 3 months?

Thursday.
Dr Andy Galpin - a phenomenal breakdown of advanced sleep hacks and VO2 Max training for heart health. Some great tactical takeaways.

Saturday.
Jonny Anomaly - what are the ethics of embryo-selection? Is it virtuous to choose between fertilised embryos based on which is smarter, taller or has the strongest immune system?

THINGS I'VE LEARNED

1.
​The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week.

30% of American adults don’t drink at all.

Another 30% consume, on average, less than one drink per week.

The top 10% of American adults - 24 million of them - consume an average of 74 drinks per week, or a little more than 10 drinks per day.

2.
​Fifty Shades of Gray was by far the top selling book of the 2010s.

The second-best-selling book was its sequel, Fifty Shades Darker. The third best selling-book of was the last of the trilogy, Fifty Shades Freed.

The 10 best-selling books of last decade:

1. E. L. James, Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) – 15.2 million copies

2. E. L. James, Fifty Shades Darker (2011) – 10.4 million copies

3. E. L. James, Fifty Shades Freed (2012) – 9.3 million copies

4. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (2008) – 8.7 million copies

5. Kathryn Stockett, The Help (2009) – 8.7 million copies

6. Paula Hawkins, The Girl on The Train (2015) – 8.2 million copies

7. Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (2012) – 8.1 million copies

8. John Green, The Fault in Our Stars (2012) – 8 million copies

9. Stieg Larsson, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (2008) – 7.9 million copies

10. Veronica Roth, Divergent (2011) – 6.6 million copies

In 2010, nearly 80% of the top-selling titles were fiction, and by 2019 that percentage dropped to 32%.

Print books outsold e-books about 3.5 to 1 this decade.

— h/t Rob Henderson

3.
​Clean your own room first.

“Conquer yourself rather than the world.” — Rene Descartes

LIFE HACK

Watch Dirty Pop on Netflix.

A great documentary about the rise and fall of the man behind Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

Absolute archetype of the dodgiest bloke who everyone turned a blind eye to for some reason.
​

Big love,
Chris x

Try my productivity drink Neutonic.
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PS
Vegas & LA - I am in you this week.