(Once again, we welcome Daniel Barkasi and his latest monthly roundup of recommended albums. These were released in February.)

We’re back! Yup, the ole’ brain hasn’t completely capitulated upon itself yet, but the year is young! The country is a fucking laughing stock, but the punchline is to the level of a petulant toddler throwing their toys about. If you didn’t know what a tariff is, you probably do now. Check out this feature from Last Week Tonight from six years ago. I’m no economist, but broad tariffs are stupid, and it’s not hard to figure out. Even worse, trade wars are even stupider. We pay the cost increases, nobody else. But screw Canada, eh? I never thought that Canadian Bacon would become some sort of reality. David Dunning and Justin Kruger were really onto something, am I right?

While we try to survive the insanity, my beloved Liverpool Football Club have sorrowfully exited the exalted Champions League in the cruelest of fashions – the dreaded penalty shootout. Even worse – it was against PSG, a team whose ownership group is exceedingly morally bankrupt, to put it kindly. They also lost the Carabao Cup as I’m writing this, to another face of sportswashing in Newcastle. However, the Premier League title is a realistic possibility, which would be an incredible achievement, in the first year of who has thus far been a brilliant new manager after the departure of an absolute club legend in Jürgen Klopp – now starring in a Trivago ad. Life is weird. Continue reading »