Looking Sideways: 10 Things
A new era for Carve, the latest 'state' of woke, and a great mainstream skate take.
1. I’m lucky enough to get a lot of feedback and good vibes from my readers and listeners. But it doesn’t change the fact that making things on the internet can be a lonely pursuit. Like everybody, I’m prone to frequent bouts of ‘Why am I doing this? Nobody cares’ introspection. (It’s why I’m such a huge advocate of sharing or commenting on your friends’ work, and believe that you should ALWAYS back the Kickstarter. These small gestures matter.)
So you can imagine how chuffed I was to receive this message the other day from a highly-respected and high-profile British musician who turns out to be an avid Looking Sideways listener, and who clearly absolutely understands what I’m trying to do with this whole thing.
And yes, I have asked him if he fancies coming onto the show for a chat. Watch this space.
10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.
So if you want to support Looking Sideways without taking out a paid sub - you can! Click right here.
2. This week I had the great privilege of interviewing Julie Maughan (that’s me and Julie above) and Chris Hines about Dirty Business for a forthcoming episode of the podcast. If you watched Dirty Business, you’ll know how devastating Julie's story is (and if you haven’t yet watched it, then really what are you waiting for?)
This two-hour conversation, in which I discussed Heather’s two decade campaign to find justice for her daughter Heather, the impact of the recent series Dirty Business, and the enraging history of the privatised water industry in this country, is one of the most moving and emotionally affecting Looking Sideways conversations I’ve ever conducted.
One particularly interesting part of the conversation was around the apathy that still exists among surfers, swimmers, paddleboarders and other recreational water users. Why is it so difficult to get people with an active stake in this (which in the UK is, well, everybody) engaged and roused to action?
It’s a topic that came up in my recent Ski Fossil Free panel discussion (that’s a comment from campaign initiator Calum Macintyre, above), specifically around the lack of engagement on that particular topic from pro skiers and snowboarders.
Brody Leven, who participated in that call, had a pretty interesting take on this, which I’ve clipped and shared below. Have a watch and let me know what you think:
More simple ways to support Looking Sideways - use any of these codes and I’ll get a small commission 🫡
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.
LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from Db
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS2026 for 15% off any Albion purchase
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.
4. If you’ve listened to my recent Announcement interview with Len Necefer, you’ll know that challenging the online Left’s propensity to unthinkingly focus on ideological purity, rather than consider what tactics and approaches are actually likely to succeed, is a key element of his work.
And, in challenging the terms of the way we currently frame the debate around the environmental implications of AI, Len has certainly found some fertile territory for these provocations.
Click the link to find out more, and listen to our recent chat below:
5. An interesting take on the ‘state’ of woke from Dorian Lynskey in the new Nerve.
6. Ted Simpson’s film about the search for ‘Scotland’s loneliest pine’ is lovely.
7. Congratulations to friend of the show Joel Gray, who’s just taken his place in the Carve Magazine editorial hotseat. I had a great chat with Joel about all things UK surf culture a few years ago, which is very worth a listen.
8. In the veritable deluge of post-Louis Theroux/manosphere hot takes, I found Chloe Laws’ Vogue piece to be one of the most insightful.
9. It’s always great when mainstream outlets give space to surf, snow and skate writers who actually know what they’re talking about - as with this great Observer piece by Thom Callan-Riley, which takes a close look at recent Skateboard GB research on the state of UK skate infrastructure.
10. Finally: this week I posted a new Insights piece about the creative lessons we took from my recent Kendal Mountain Festival interview with Oscar-winning filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel. It’s a good one - click the link below for more.
Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️