Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Mani's impact, Looking Sideways Book Club, and more must-read post-KMF thoughts.
1. I know there has been loads of stuff about Mani and The Stone Roses (watch a remarkable live performance above) but I have to post something…I was 13 when the first album came out, and it’s no exaggeration whatsoever to say it changed mine and my friends’ lives forever.
My sister Jo gave me a copy on tape for Christmas 1989; we were away visiting relatives in Norfolk and from that point I listened to it on my shitty little walkman every waking moment. I don’t think I spoke to anybody for about two weeks.
It was like being initiated into some secret club by the coolest lads around, and the fact they were from the part of town I’m from made it even better. The course of my life was pretty much set from that point.
I remember going back to school after that holiday and seeing one of the roughest kids in my year whistling This Is The One while walking down the corridor, which is when I knew they were going to be absolutely massive. And that we would somehow have a tiny slice of it. They felt like ours, which is why they meant so much to so many people, and still do.
Manchester/Thatcherite Britain in the 80s/early 90s could be a rough as fook place to grow up, but equally my friends and I took a lot of pride in being from the city. That was down to the music, football and, later, when I discovered it, skateboarding; all of which made the city seem a magical place that was at the centre of something important. The Stone Roses were such a key part of that, at a real formative age for me.
They symbolised what it meant to be a gang of scruffy mates doing something interesting, something which, for right or wrong, influences me to this day.
2. Like the rest of the outdoor industry, I had a brilliant, exhausting and illuminating time at this year’s 2025 Kendal Mountain Festival. I shared my post-event breakdown in a piece that did a few mild numbers on LinkedIn, which you can read below:
I also highly recommend Outdoor Connections organiser Joe White’s follow-up piece, which took many of the themes explored in my panel about brand purpose, and well and truly ran with them:
3. Should men be allowed to race in a putatively ‘women only’ race? A question that is being debated in some detail in the aftermath of Nike’s SheRACES London event, which above all else seems like a corporate comms disaster. More here and above.
4. The loss of journalist Rachel Cook is devastating. This tribute from her husband is beautiful and very moving.
5. New Grayson Fletcher!
6. And new Ken Burns!
7. Every review of the new version of the Beatles Anthology has raved about the way the documentary breathes new life into old recordings.
How interesting, then, to read how producer Giles Martin used AI to ‘de-mix’ the band to achieve said result. Paging
…8. Here’s an important new campaign from Surfers Against Sewage.
9. Finally, to round things off this week: two ways you can potentially support Looking Sideways - and save yourself some cash - this ‘buy more shit or we’re all fooked’ season.
Firstly, a reminder of my brilliant HKC Discounts, which will give you some massive savings from some of my partner brands:
Use
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre
LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from Db
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchase
LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.
Phew.
10. Secondly, a reminder that earlier this year I started a Looking Sideways Book Club, in which I’m listing my favourite books of the year here.
Buy anything from here and you’ll be supporting independent UK book stores (ie not paying for Jeff Bezos’ next rocket), as well as helping support Looking Sideways (I get a 10% commission) in a really simple way.
Related: as usual, if you want to discuss any of my selections, or share any of your own 2025 reads, click here. As usual, I’ll be posting my 2025 top five next week.
Thanks for reading and supporting Looking Sideways! If you have any thoughts about any of the stories I discuss this week, let me know:
Grayson Fletcher is incredible.