Leaning into cringe 💪🏼

➕ The UK government is gonna block a Scottish gender bill, & an update on the plane crash in Nepal ❣️

Ugh not to get emosh on main but can I just take a moment to tell you all how much I appreciate you? Every day I am reminded how spesh this community is and how much I love you all. You inspire me/ make me brave literally every day, and that’s so rare and beautiful - these feelings were very much brought on by this gorg email:

Hi Luce, I just wanted to say the biggest thank you to you and Bel - I went to see the 1975 on my own on Tuesday night and it was one of the best nights of my life!! My friends were busy but this was something I knew I'd regret missing so I thought fuck it & went on my own. This is something I would never consider doing if it wasn't for the daily newsletter, which is the best part of my day!

Reading about your experiences of doing things alone, and inspired by Bel’s phoenixing, I decided 2023 was the year of doing things that scare me. It was nowhere near as awkward as I had feared and once the set began I found myself getting lost in the music in a way that I wouldn't have if I'd been there with someone. I got a bit emosh on my drive home - I've suffered from severe social anxiety my entire life and going to something like this alone has been unimaginable to me for almost my whole life. It was genuinely one of the best nights of my life and I can't wait for even more solo adventures.

Thanks for inspiring me everyday xx

Brb legit crying. We do so much for each other, you and me. Let’s never stop eh???

• ❤️‍Get in ur feels with us 💔

• Leaning into cringe is now a TikTok trend

• There were no survivors in the Nepal plane crash

• UK government to block Scottish gender bill

• Is it ‘you’ve got another THING coming’ or ‘you’ve got another THINK coming?’

❤️‍Get in ur feels with us 💔

We’re working on a spesh new project with Vice & Love Better all about ✨heartbreak.✨ We wanna help young people break up in healthier, and more positive ways (bc no one ever taught us how to deal with this shit). To do this, we need real people, going through real hurt. 

Going through a break up? Got a story?
Are you 18-24 and living in New Zealand?

If the answer is yes, yes, yes, hit this link to get involved.

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Leaning into cringe is now a TikTok trend

This is my equivalent to ‘liking a band before it was cool’ I’ve been leaning into cringe for years!!!! The other night at dinner I made a joke (I forget what it was) and Dunc asked me if I’d read this piece from Embedded titled ‘Another tough watch, thanks.’ I told him I hadn’t, but I’d seen it sitting in my inbox (unread, I had every intention of reading it, dw) and he said something along the lines of ‘it talks about nationally being cringe online, which is something you kind of do in real life.’

I think this was a compliment - or at least an observation of one of my… quirks. I like to make really bad puns, or jokes, and just watch them fall flat around me. Idk why I do it, but I live for the reactions! Maybe it’s because I HATE an unintentional awkward silence so out of fear I manufacture something awk to take its place? IDK! But the point is, people are doing this ‘intentional cringe’ thing online, and going hella viral for it. When I think about being cringe online the first person I think of (after myself) is this dude (watch at your own risk):

@thatmartinkidcouldn’t hear you

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I love what Kate from Embedded said about the genre here:

Embarrassing internet characters aren’t new—some performers parlayed their success with them into acting and comedy careers, like Miranda Sings, who got a Netflix series. But 2010s characters like Miranda slapped you in the face with their ridiculousness. This new wave is something more subtle. McLure and Slowikowska and Neve are not playing larger-than-life characters. Their personas are all too familiar, like the versions of yourself that you’ve tried not to think about since unsuccessfully pretending to hear what someone said at a loud party, or bungling what you thought would be a witty comment in a job interview.

So maybe next time you’re overthinking a cringe conversashe, try picking up your phone and recreating it for TikTok?? It might be your key to making it big.

PS: Here’s a REALLY good article by The Face about why we find stuff cringe!!

💌 shit you should care about 💌 @SYSCAbout

IN 2023 WE DO NOT KILL THE PARTS OF OURSELVES THAT ARE CRINGEY WE KILL THE PART THAT CRINGES

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There were no survivors in the Nepal plane crash

A quick update on the plane crash in Nepal that I covered yesterday, officials have said that they have ‘given up hope’ on finding any survivors. Of the 72 people on the flight, 68 bodies have been recovered, with four remaining to be found. The pilot of the flight did not report "anything untoward," and there was good visibility, so it’s unknown what cause the country’s deadliest crash in 30 years. More on it here.

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UK government to block Scottish gender bill

This story just broke (right before I went to send this newsy) but the UK government has “decided to block a controversial Scottish bill designed to make it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender.”

The Gender Recognition Bill:

• aims to speed up the process for people to change their legally recognised gender

• lowers the age for this from 18-16

• “removes the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, with applicants only needing to have lived as their acquired gender for three months rather than two years - or six months if they are aged 16 or 17”

And was passed in December by 86 votes to 39. Now, the UK government is using its own powers to block the Scottish legislation: this will be the first ever use a Section 35 order, which stops a Scottish bill from becoming law.

“Scotland's first minister had said such a move would be an "outrage" and the Scottish government is likely to mount a legal challenge in response.”

More on this developing story here!

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Today’s mundane poll:

• What Will Prince Harry’s Book Actually Tell Us? (Culture Vulture)

• Same Shit Different Year (The Shit Show)

• Andrew Tate: Romanian police widen probe into controversial influencer (BBC)

• Brazilians are turning to Instagram to identify far-right rioters (MIT Tech Review)

• A Fake Death in Romancelandia (NY Times)