Protect the Japanese Ambassador at all costs
One of the coolest people to have ever lived in the UK with permission of Stephen Graham
Welcome to mostly cool stuff, a space dedicated to the the random things I come across online and offline that get my attention as per the dozens of screenshots, pictures and links in my phone to remind me about them.
Happy reading!
Coolness is like energy: it never dies, it just transforms
You can’t name a publication mostly cool stuff without having something to justify such a pretentious choice, so here are my cool credentials: I went to see The Play’s The Thing: A One Person Hamlet at Wilton’s Music Hall this week and guess who was seated behind me? Helen Mirren. Apologies, Dame Helen Mirren. I don’t like to brag but I do rub shoulders with acting royalty from time to time. The friend I was with and I both acted very demure, very mindful and pretended not to have seen her because we didn’t want to disturb her. Hope she didn’t notice us following her and her companions when they left the theatre while we both giggled and whispered, “It’s Helen Mirren, can you believe it?”
If you had to choose a London landmark for a sleepover, which one would it be? My pick is Liberty but failing that I wouldn’t mind staying over at the National Gallery. If that’s where you’d love to spend a night as well, I have good news for you. To mark the 200th anniversary of the Salisbury Wing the National Gallery is organising a prize draw competition where the winner will have the luxury to sleep among some of the world’s most famous paintings.
A few days ago I walked past Bush House, which currently belongs to the Strand campus of King’s College university, and noticed the inscription at the top of the facade: “To the friendship of English speaking peoples.” I thought this was another commemorative display of some Commonwealth alliance but I was wrong. In fact, I’ve since learned (thanks Wikipedia, you are a true friend in need) the building was originally a trade centre commissioned, designed, funded, and constructed under American industrialist Irving T. Bush’s direction in 1935. The slogan of Bush House in praise of the close ties of all those who are confused by the spelling of they’re/their/there is highly timely and appropriate in times of US tariffs that are being imposed even on penguins.
Last week I talked about how Ikea is coming to Oxford Street and this week is time for a much welcomed return as Waterstones has opened a bookshop on the second floor of the flagship John Lewis shop. That’s great news after they closed all their Oxford street shops eight years ago. Besides, what’s not to love about browsing books on home decor while checking out throws and bed linen in real time? The bookshop opened last October but I haven’t been to John Lewis in a veeeeery long time so I only found out during a serendipitious visit last week. This is the kind of brand partnership I want to see more often - bookshops everywhere!
Apparently the global success of award-winning film Flow (of which I taked about in the previous edition) has increased the adoption rate of black cats, helping to dismantle the popular belief that they bring back luck. I think that’s really cool.
You know when you spend your life oblivious to someone’s existence and all of a sudden you can’t believe you didn’t know about them before because they’re so freaking amazing? That’s not only how I envision my ascend to global fame, which for some unfathomable reason is being delayed, but also how I feel about the Japanese Ambassador to the UK, Hiroshi Suzuki.
The Ambassador has gone viral after taking a Paddington Bear on his trip to Japan and posting pictures of the teddy bear who gave us one of Hugh Grant’s finest screen performances in Paddington 2. The Ambassador’s love for the UK isn’t limited to the nation’s most loved ursine mascot. He may have been in this current post for a few months only but his social media feed (which I can’t link because is Twitter and Musk won’t let me) is an ode to all things British, from his love for the pub to the Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, which he’s sung in Welsh, which he learned in half an hour. The man couldn’t be cooler even if he tried. Let’s remember it took Prince Charles a whole The Crown episode to memorise his speech when he was declared Prince of Wales.
I honestly believe the UK government should employ Mr. Suzuki to promote the country because his enthusiasm single-handedly makes this island look like it’s the most exciting place in the world regardless of the terrible weather. That’s PR done right for you and not that hotter than Algarve media brainwashing.
Cool vibe passed with flying colours Half the working force in the UK is against going back to the office. I’m not an idiot and I know there’s a rationale behind this push and that we all need to chip in so TfL doesn’t collapse because there are no commuters on a Friday or pubs don’t close because they no longer can rely on those who hated their jobs so much they couldn’t wait to get wasted beyond their recommended alcohol intake by 3 pm. I get it, I really do, but this insistence in forcing people to return to work in a way that was more suitable for the XIX century than the XXI is rather puzzling. By all means give everyone options and if someone is desperate to be in the office every single day, let them; just don’t make it compulsory for others. Personally, my anxiety and cortisol level are sky high these past couple of weeks that I’ve been out and about more often for work events and meetings and I can’t wait to go back to working from home as usual.
So to put it in the words of Benson Boone:
I found my mind, I'm feelin' sane
It's been a while, but I'm finding my faith
If everything's good and it's great
Why do I sit and wait 'til it's gone?
Oh, I'll tell ya, I know I've got enough
I've got peace and I've got love
But I'm up at night thinkin'
I just might lose it all
Please stay
I want you, I need you, oh God
Don't take
These beautiful things that I've got (Work from Home)
Oh-oh-oh-oh, ooh
The latest UK Youth Poll 2025 has revealed that people aged 16-29 are more worried about money and work than social media, the climate crisis or culture wars. Despite having migrated from that age bracket, I can fully subscribe those same worries. One of the key findings in the poll, however, is rather surprising given our tendency to catastrophy Gen Z and their outlook on life. It turns out that in fact young people are mostly optimistic about the future, think their lives will be better than their parents’, and say they are broadly happy. However, many also say they live with anxiety, which again I can relate to. Wait until they hit 32 and that incipient anxiety wipes out the last trace of optimism and hope in the future they’ve ever felt in their blissful 16s-29s. That’s the time to do another poll.
Bad news now on the gender equality front. According to the Forbes’ 2025 billionaires list (not to be confused with a random rich people list that can include anyone), women make only 13% of billionaires in the world. Elon Musk tops the list with a net worth of $342bn (€316bn, £264bn). Seems his girl math skills are paying off so maybe that’s a victory for women after all? In any case, you’ll have to descend to number 20 to find the first woman on the list, where the French Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, head of the L'Oréal empire until the end of this year, makes an entry with a meagre $81.6bn net worth. My fellow countryman Amancio Ortega, the man who brought ZARA to your closet and then to Vinted, makes it to the top 10 with $124 bn. Hope he can manage the bills now he’s retired.
The kind of gender equality we deserve You need to start somewhere to make it to the top and any money is good money, so one woman we might one day see on that billionaires list is Meghan Markle after her fancy jams range has sold out in record time despite the hefty price tag. It may not look impressive to you but how do you think the L’Oréal lady got her fortune, or Marta Ortega for that matter? Correct: through inheritance, but my point stills stands - you need someone who starts somewhere so you can one day inherit something. Be ready for jams fancier than M&S crisps’ flavours.
I’ve seen (and tasted) this in my lifetime Over the last couple of weeks I’ve watched hours of interviews of Stephen Graham discussing how Adolescence came into being, his commitment to supporting people from working class backgrounds to break into the film/tv industry or just him being an good, decent person overall, which is very heart warming in this turbulent times. His SAG-AFTRA interview is a further example of why the man, like Paddington, is a national treasure and rightly so. The Japanese Ambassador should invite him around for tea, or a pint. I bet they’d get on really well.
I went to see Turandot at the Royal Opera and Ballet last weekend and I was seated next to a girl who smelled amazing by my subjective olfactory standards. She was wearing a scent that was clean and fresh but also slightly musky in a very delicate, subtle way. Because we spent a little over three hours next to each other and the perfume didn’t lose a bit of its staying power (without being overwhelming at all, very important), I gathered the courage to ask which perfume it was before leaving. She loved that I noticed it and kindly searched for it on her phone so I could get the name right. Gotta love a girl that doesn’t gatekeep the secret of her allure. In that same spirit, and because it’s a unisex scent, I am sharing it with you in case you’re looking to update your fragrance wardrobe for spring. It’s Missing Person by Phlur. Isn’t that a cool name for a perfume that has such long lasting effect?
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Finally women being recognized for their psychopath tendencies. It was about time we broke into that field 😂
Loved this - made me laugh. Definitely, yes to the Japanese ambassador; ("hotter than the Algarve"? Seriously?); Bush House then used to belong the brilliant BBC World Service ...