1. I think my latest Looking Sideways episode with Julie Maughan and Chris Hines, in which we discussed the recent series Dirty Business, the scandal of the privatised water industry in this country, and the death of Heather’s daughter’s Julie after she contracted E-coli from raw sewage, is without question the most emotionally impactful and important episode of Looking Sideways I’ve ever released.

Here’s a short clip I recorded here in Normandy this morning (above) explaining why, and here’s the episode below so you can have a listen:

10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.

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2. My friends at Huck Magazine just celebrated their 20th anniversary, which means they have successfully navigated the advent of social media, a global recession, COVID and now AI. No mean feat, I think you will agree.

So allow me to use this occasion to give you my semi-regular nudge to support independent media. In an era of increasingly centralised media AI slop, we should be supporting this stuff more than ever. After all, we’ll miss it when its gone.

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3. My friend Keme Nzerem delved into the whole sorry saga Ye/Wireless saga on this excellent Channel 4 podcast.

4. Got to be honest, I think Harry Styles’ Meltdown lineup looks kinda banging…

5. So ace to see CJ Mirra going through a bit of an imperial phase right now. He was a guest on Zakia’s excellent 6 Music show this week, and was interviewed about his brilliant new soundtrack for My Father’s Shadow alongside director Akinola Davies Jr and fellow composer Duval Timothy in this Clash Magazine piece.

6. The trailer for Undercurrents, Maddie Meddings new film about Laura Crane and Imari Hearn, is great - watch it above. And get tickets for a limited run of screenings in Bristol, Newquay, London and Braunton here.

7. It’s pretty difficult to do something new in the podcast (ahem) space these days. So big up Bjarne Salen who’s gone down a really interesting path, and clearly invested a lot of time, love and energy, for his new series Fika with Bjarne.

His first episode with Jeremy Jones is out now - watch it above.

8. I enjoyed this reflective piece by on finding another type of creative validation. I shared it in a Note, which turned into an interesting back-and-forth with Sidetracked editor Alex Roddie on the same topic - click the image to check that out.

9. Updated: my evolving 2026 playlist, with new songs from CJ Mirra, Her’s, Bill Orcutt, and, er, Laurel and Hardy.

10. Also updated: my 2026 reading list, which includes this brilliant historical novel that I’m enjoying as much as anything I’ve read for as long as I can remember. ‘Like a Plantagenet Adrian Mole’ sums it up well.

And don’t forget that you can see what the LS community have been reading, and share your own recommendations, below:

PLUS! There’s still time to apply for one of the two roles we have going at my agency All Conditions Media. Find out more about the type of work we do above, and apply here.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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1. Our pal Christina is on her way to the moon!

I’ve been very excited and tickled to see the great Christina Koch finally take off on Artemis II this week. One of my fondest memories of recent years was meeting for lunch in London in February 2023 (above) and asking her how work was going: “Well, looks like I’m off to the moon in a year or so”.

If you’ve yet to listen to my episode with Christina, in which we discussed her experiences as an astronaut, and why she loves surfing so much, catch up below. (And yes, I will be inviting her back for a second round once she’s back down on earth).

10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.

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2. My agency ACM is hiring. Know anybody out there who’d be suitable for this, or who might want to come and join our team? Click this link to find out more.

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3. Congratulations to the gang behind Hotpipe Hillbillies for winning the Best Emerging Talent award at the recent North East Surf Film Festival, which sounds like it went right off last weekend.

4. Speaking of Sal McGee from Yonder (one of the organisers of last weekend’s event) this is a really nice back-and-forth between her and Easkey Britten on Finisterre’s excellent Broadcast blog.

@thefacemagazine

THE FACE on Instagram: "Yep, the rumours are true: THE FACE is …

5. Rest in peace, The Face magazine. Again.

All At Once by Dr. Len

Who Gets to Be an Early Adopter

There’s a moment on every backcountry film expedition where someone looks at a pile of dead batteries, a cloudy sky, and six more days of shooting, and says something like, “I think we’re fine…

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8 days ago · 21 likes · 7 comments · Len Necefer

6. I know I’m sharing a lot of Len Necefer posts at the moment, but I’m finding his entire take on the AI conversation to be provocative and fascinating. His latest piece is another example - I would love to know what people out there think of the arguments he’s making.

7. I’ve been enjoying The Horrors on the BBC’s reliably excellent Artist in Residence series (UK only)

Yvette’s Substack

The Exclusive Nature of Inclusion in Conferences

This is a topic I have spoken with friends about so often for years now and it continues to be a real problem, especially as ‘Change-makers’ seem to be a sellable commodity and almost a business of its own…

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6 days ago · 1 like · 2 comments · Yvette - Wave Wahines

8. Interesting read from - if you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know I’ve been making this point for years now (notably here and here - and yes I made my usual points in the comment section of this piece).

Interestingly, I’ve yet to hear anybody responsible for organising these conferences credibly defend the practise.

9. This week I read the most remarkable piece by Jamie Brisick about the 2019 Woolsey Fire that took all of his possessions.

Naturally, being by Jamie, our most talented surf writer, it’s about so much more than that.

Reading this story took me back to the first time we met in person, which was in Malibu in 2019, a few months after the fire.

We sat in the ashes of his former home and recorded a beautiful and honest Looking Sideways conversation about life, love and loss; and how he was processing the impact of this cataclysmic event.

At the time I remember being struck by the generosity with which Jamie approached what must have been a really difficult morning with two people he didn’t really know. Owen captured this moment in a series of typically brilliant pictures, which I’m sharing here.

Since then we have stayed close, and his support and friendship have become increasingly important to me.

I love the fact that we tend to only see each other in fairly random and impromptu places( Malibu, Santa Monica, Biarritz, London); that our conversations take flight in unexpected directions each time we meet; and that he’s such a champion of my own work. Listen to our conversation below:

10. It’s always a slightly discomfiting experience to find a beloved book a bit ‘meh’, which has been my experience with Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. Anybody else out there read it? What am I missing?

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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In this episode of Looking Sideways, I speak to Julie Maughan and Chris Hines about Dirty Business, the recent Channel 4 drama that exposes the state of the UK’s water industry since privatisation, and the real-life tragedy at its centre.

The story of eight-year-old Heather Preen, who died after contracting E. coli following a sewage spill on a Devon beach, forms the emotional core of the series, and is what really makes this such a powerful piece of storytelling.

Because what Dirty Business does so effectively is remind you that behind all of this - the corporate failure, the regulatory collapse, the wholesale extraction of profits, the outrageous cynicism - there are devastating, long-lasting human consequences.

Julie, Heather’s mother, has spent nearly 30 years campaigning for justice. Alongside environmentalist Chris Hines, she has worked tirelessly to hold those responsible to account and bring national attention to the issue.

In this essential, riveting conversation, we explore Heather’s story, the long-term impact on her family, and the wider context: how the UK’s water system reached this point, why it has been allowed to continue; and what it reveals about privatisation, regulatory failure, accountability, and public apathy.

This is an urgent look at an issue that affects us all, and what might be the most emotionally impactful and important episode of Looking Sideways I’ve ever recorded. Don’t miss it.

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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.

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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:

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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 ✌️

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Think of my ongoing exchanges with artist Thomas Campbell about how years of patient, thoughtful creative endeavour led him to his opus Yi-Wo:

Or last year’s chat with director Lucy Walker about how she developed the multi-award-winning Mountain Queen:

Then there’s my discussion with about his decades-long quest to bring his recent novel American Tiger to life:

And that’s just in the last year.

To this list, you can add my recent live Kendal Mountain Festival conversation with Oscar-winning filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel.

On paper, Orlando’s remarkable career represents the summit of modern documentary filmmaking.

With Virunga, The White Helmets, The Lost Children, and his forthcoming The Cycle of Love, Orlando’s films have shaped the visual and emotional language of contemporary non-fiction storytelling in ways that will resonate for years.

And from the outside, this looks like the creative promised land. Surely Orlando is now in a position to name his price and call his own creative shots?

What emerged from our conversation, instead, was yet another pitiless reminder of what it actually takes to sustain a creative career. Even when you’ve got an Oscar on the CV.

Here are my key creative lessons from this vital conversation…

Insights is the Looking Sideways section, exclusively for my paid subscribing community.

It’s an absolute treasure trove of the - well - insights and wisdom imparted by over 250 Looking Sideways guests; as well as from the 25 plus years I’ve been making a living as a journalist, author, podcaster, business owner, mentor and speaker.

It’s where you’ll find exclusive blogs, podcasts, video chats, guest posts and articles all geared towards answering that two fundamental questions:

• How can I spend more time doing the things I’m passionate about?

• What does a ‘successful’ creative life actually look like?

Here are a few recent Insights articles to whet your appetite:

1. Creative careers are never secure - even if you’ve won an Oscar

The simple, sobering reality that uncertainty never disappears, no matter what level of ‘success’ you attain, was perhaps the most important lesson of the entire conversation.

Read more

1. I had the best laugh I’ve had on a snowboard for quite some time in Georgia, which I visited last week to write a story for the Times (and which is why there was no 10 Things last Friday).

Sure, if you like it properly steep, enjoy being scared, or prefer it luxe and bougie, it probably isn’t for you.

Anybody else with a yen for a snowy adventure will love the outrageously user-friendly snow and terrain, the lack of crowds, and the chance to explore this fascinating country.

Think Sri Lanka, Morocco or the Maldives if you surf, or Japan twenty years ago if you ski or snowboard.

The challenge for Georgia Catskiing’s Shota and the rest of the Bakhmaro community will be how to effectively manage the valley as it inevitably becomes more popular in the coming years. I’ll have a piece about this coming out on here soon.

In the meantime here (above) is a short clip from the trip - merci Shota, Helen, Caroline, Lynsey, Will, Dom, Leslie and Keme and the gang for the good times. And to Peak Performance, Finisterre, Stance and Db for the support on this one.

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. I really enjoyed pulling together my recent Looking Sideways mini-series of post Olympic reflections.

In the first episode, I chatted to BBC commentators (and new national treasures) Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood about their take on the Games.

In the second, I discussed the tension that exists at the heart of snowboarding and action sports’ relationship with the Olympics with Lesley McKenna, who interrogated this for her Phd, as usual raising the bar significantly when it comes to how we discuss and understand these topics.

The final episode tackled fossil fuel sponsorship (one of the biggest controversies surrounding the recent Winter Olympics) and focussed on the Ski Fossil Free campaign, initiated by activists Calum McIntyre and Nikolai Schirmer.

This brilliantly effective feat of climate campaigning saw Nikolai deliver a petition - signed by over 20,000 people - to the IOC on the eve of the Games, an act which garnered much publicity and pushed the issue into the spotlight at a critical moment.

A week or so later, in an attempt to understand more about the campaign and its goals, I hosted an online panel featuring voices from across sport, activism and the outdoor industry, including campaign organiser Calum, Russell Harvey from Greenpeace, Lucy Von Sturmer from Creatives for Climate, Erland Eggen from Klimakultur, Magnus Graner from 1000 Skis, and Greenlandic Olympian Ukaleq Slettemark.

We discussed the campaign, the role of athletes and brands in driving change, the challenges of effective climate activism — and the accusations of hypocrisy that inevitably follow this conversation.

It’s a conversation about where responsibility really sits when it comes to the future of outdoor sports, and as such is a fitting end to this short Olympic series.

Watch a short clip above, or listen to the entire episode below:

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3. A great creative lesson from Paul McCartney, taken from Ian Leslie’s recent John and Paul book, which I finished this week:

The older I get, the more I am endlessly amazed by how personally people take having their creative ideas critiqued. As Lennon and McCartney seem to have realised at a very early age, feedback and constructive criticism isn’t a personal reflection on you or your idea - it’s an essential part of making any creative thing better. It really isn’t that complicated (or ‘It just doesn’t matter that much’, as Paul puts it).

4. A reminder that the 2026 reading list is go here, and there’s a great ongoing chat thread on which people are sharing their own recs which you can join by clicking the image above.

5. Before Penelope Spheeris made Wayne’s World, she made a pair of incredibly influential documentaries about the late 70s/early 80s LA music scene, both of which are now on YouTube, and which are very much worth a watch. Especially part one, above, which documents the very grubby LA punk scene, and the tragic, nihilistic antics of characters such as Derby Crash and his band Germs.

6. Hats off to whoever commissioned this Runner’s World conversation between Harry Styles and Haruki Murakami.

7. If you’ve listened to my recent episode with Alice Sainsbury, I imagine two mind-bending details probably stood out: the fact that all adaptive athletes, even up to elite Paralympic level, are forced to modify their own clothing to enable them to compete; and the fact that there an estimated 1.4 billion disabled and chronically ill people around the world, giving the lie to the idea that this is some kind of minority issue.

In response, Alice has recently helped launch an initiative called UN[PARA]LD, through which she’s attempting to address these issues. This new film, above, tells the story so far.

8. A couple of interesting podcast episodes I listened to this week - Lora Bodmer, PR supremo and a quietly unsung hero of the US snow scene, on FNRad, and my dear pal Jon Weaver on Thank U Snowboarding (above).

Both really fascinating stories from people who made snowboarding their life in very different and unusual ways. Highly recommended.

@tombingphoto

Tom Bing on Instagram: "How do we ensure that with the @northse…

9. I’m pretty devastated to be missing next week’s inaugural North Sea Surf Film Festival (not least because I’ve STILL never been up there). If you ask me, organisers Sally, Tom and Lewis represent all that is brilliant about UK surfing - integrity, generosity, creativity and community - and the event looks like it’ll reflect this ethos beautifully.

Especially Thursday’s Cold Gold festival opener (watch the trailer above) for which NESFF invited crews from the east coast to submit their own edit.

As Tom puts it, “the films entered showcase every aspect of NE surf culture, from real amateur stuff to stuff that could easily sit in a proper festival setting. We have a group of mum who surf every Friday, groms from over the river, parasurfers and a couple of aspiring surf filmers.

We are so proud to be platforming aspiring film makers from across these sectors; and fopr NSSFF be the catalyst for friends to get together this winter with the shared purpose of film. The mana, the onda, the aloha spirit - whatever it is that is core to surf culture is already outstanding”.

10. Finally, I’m back in Normandy for a few weeks. The sun is shining and the blossom is flourishing, so I thought I’d share a quick clip, above.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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Welcome to the final episode of my three-part Winter Olympics series, in which we’re tackling one of the biggest controversies surrounding the recent Winter Olympics: fossil fuel sponsorship.

This episode focuses on the Ski Fossil Free campaign, initiated by activists Calum McIntyre and Nikolai Schirmer, which seeks to end fossil fuel partnerships across IOC and FIS events. This incredibly effective feat of climate campaigning saw Nikolai deliver a petition - signed by over 20,000 people - to the IOC on the eve of the Games, an act which garnered much publicity and pushed the issue into the spotlight at a critical moment.

A week or so later, in an attempt to understand more about the campaign and its goals, I hosted an online panel featuring voices from across sport, activism and the outdoor industry, including campaign organiser Calum, Greenpeace, Creatives for Climate and Greenlandic Olympian Uqaaleq Slettemark.

We discussed the campaign, the role of athletes and brands in driving change, the challenges of effective climate activism — and the accusations of hypocrisy that inevitably follow this conversation.

It’s a conversation about where responsibility really sits when it comes to the future of outdoor sports, and as such is a fitting end to this short Olympic series.

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1. Iran in 2005 was probably my favourite ever snowboarding trip. ⁣⁣

Some standout memories: coming down after an amazing powder day in Dizin to find Iranian state TV showing the Manchester derby live; the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Isfahan; riding the back bowl in Shemshak (pictured), then hitching a ride back to resort with a stoked member of the Iranian Air Force; being mobbed by the Muharram throngs in Khomeini’s hometown of Qom.

We arranged the whole thing through an Iranian government-sanctioned tour company. They organised two guides for us, the amazing Leily and Mahmoud who were completely brilliant and took real pride in showing us their beautiful, welcoming country. ⁣⁣

At the end of the trip we owed the company around £8000 in fees. Mahmoud’s face when I asked him if they took Visa was hilarious. Once he’d stopped laughing, he said: ‘Guys we are under economic sanction from your country! Of course we don’t take Visa! You didn’t bring cash!?’⁣⁣

Nope. And turns out those same economic sanctions make getting your hands on £8k in cash in Iran actually impossible - and we wouldn’t be able to leave the country without paying. So in the end Mahmoud suggested we ask his next client, a TV crew who were flying out to Tehran from London in two days, to bring the money out for us.⁣

I ended up ringing a mate in Brighton and asked him to lend me 8 grand, which he’d need to deliver to a random person in London - who’d then fly it out to me in Iran. ⁣⁣

Obviously, he thought I was taking the piss. When he realised I wasn’t, I had a hard time persuading him that we hadn’t been kidnapped. Amazingly, he agreed to do it. Even more incredibly, the film crew agreed to bring the cash in for us.⁣⁣

Two days later we met up with them in Isfahan and were finally able to pay Mahmoud, who found the whole thing hilarious and spent the rest of the trip dining out on how clueless and entitled most westerners are.

He had a point, to be honest. ⁣⁣

2. At the other end of the snowboarding spectrum: I am just back from a wondrous week in the Three Valleys to celebrate my 50th lap around the sun with a group of my oldest and closest friends.

3. ICYMI - I just released the second of my post Winter Olympic episodes with the great Lesley McKenna, one of snowboarding’s great original thinkers.

A pro skier, snowboarder, coach and team manager, she is herself a three-time Olympian, and helped run GB Park & Pipe in the years when Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan won their medals.

She has spent the last few years working on a Phd that analyses the tension that exists between a traditional sporting structure as epitomised by the Olympics, and a none-conventional action sports culture such as snowboarding. She’s has called it the Risk Aesthetic Framework, and it is fascinating stuff.

Why does this matter? Because while snowboarding now looks fully integrated into the Winter Olympics, its relationship with the Games has always been complex — and at times uneasy. We dig into judging controversies, cultural friction, performance vs progression, and ask whether something essential is gained — or lost — when snowboard culture enters the Olympic machine.

As ever with Lesley, this is a mind-bending conversation: endlessly intellectually-stimulating, and full of the ideas and provocations that mark her work out as so original. Listen above.

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.

4. Mary Rand and Liam Gallagher (no, not that one) always collaborate on interesting projects and their latest series All Right Here looks great.

5. Champions of the Golden Valley (watch a clip above) was one of the word-of-mouth sleepers of this year’s Kendal Mountain Festival - now my pal has written a great piece on the story behind the film for Huck Magazine.

6. Casper Brooker’s Epicly Later’d is as much a beautiful tribute to Ben Raemers as it is a spotlight on Casper’s incredible skating.

7. Bravo Wavelength for this interview with Julie Maughan about the loss of her daughter Heather and the impact of Dirty Business.

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8. Turnstile covering I Wanna Be Adored is a wholesome bit of internetting.

9. With a new episode of Skate Muzik coming, catch up with a great episode from last year.

10. The Hotpipe Shootout is returning to my local!

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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Welcome to the second of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which I am examining the recent Winter Olympics from a variety of different perspectives.

In this second episode, I’m joined by Lesley McKenna, one of snowboarding’s great original thinkers.

A pro skier, snowboarder, coach and team manager, she is herself a three-time Olympian, and helped run GB Park & Pipe in the years when Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan won their medals.

She has spent the last few years working on a Phd that analyses the tension that exists between a traditional sporting structure as epitomised by the Olympics, and a none-conventional action sports culture such as snowboarding. She’s has called it the Risk Aesthetic Framework, and it is fascinating stuff.

Why does this matter? Because while snowboarding now looks fully integrated into the Winter Olympics, its relationship with the Games has always been complex — and at times uneasy.

In this conversation, we dig into judging controversies, cultural friction, performance vs. progression, and ask whether something essential is gained — or lost — when snowboard culture enters the Olympic machine.

As ever with Lesley, this is a mind-bending conversation: endlessly intellectually-stimulating, and full of the ideas and provocations that mark her work out as so original.

If you care about snowboarding and its culture, don’t miss this one.

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1. Dirty Business, Channel 4’s new docudrama expose about the British sewage scandal, launched this week and the response has been remarkable. Even if, notably, the UK surf press and industry has been pretty silent about this defining issue.

I’ll be chatting to Julie Maughan (here we are pictured above at the recent official launch of the series) and Chris Hines about the entire campaign and show for a forthcoming episode of Looking Sideways: stay tuned.

@welooksideways

Matthew Barr on Instagram: "Ed and Tim on how they’re handling …

2. My recent Olympic debrief episode with Tim Warwood and Ed Leigh has been going down a storm. Here’s an extract above, and listen to our full conversation below:

3. This wondrous biography of Paul Gauguin has confirmed it: there are few none-fiction writers I enjoy reading as much as Sue Prideaux. THE most beautiful, enviable style; an ability to render difficult ideas with humour and affectionate irony; and the compassion she feels for her subjects is infectious and, at times, very moving. My favourite reading experience of the year so far.

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.

4. Whitelines Magazine interviewed the judges behind this year’s Olympics womens’ slopestyle controversy.

5. Timeline cleanser: Alex Yoder camping in the Tetons.

6. My dear friend Marcus Chapman is this week’s guest on the excellent Thank U Snowboarding podcast

7. For years I’ve loved followed the adventures of a gang of mini shredders down in Cornwall - and now they’re the stars of this ace new film.

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8. This Russian skater has turned a frozen river into a personal skate park.

(I thought about whether to share this, given what’s going on in Ukraine. Then I remembered an important lesson I took from travelling to Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other countries over the years: judging people by the actions of their government is generally a mistake).

9. Rest in peace the inspirational Stratton Matteson.

10. Finally, the London Surf Film Festival hits the road next, with events in Newquay and Devon. It’s a great line-up featuring Kepa Acero’s brilliant new (and LSFF award-winning) film Kingdom of the Evening. More here.

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Welcome to the first of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which we’ll examine the recent Games from a number of different perspectives.

As a lifelong snowboarder, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the Olympics. The performances and spectacle are incredible. But beyond the hype, there are bigger cultural conversations worth having. That’s what this short series is about.

In this first episode, I’m joined by BBC Olympic commentators Tim Warwood and Ed Leigh — lifelong snowboarders and much-loved voices of Olympic action sports on the BBC.

In this riotous chat, we discuss their experience at the Games, their breakout moment this year, the cultural tensions between core snowboarding and the Olympic machine, the controversies, the progression — and what these Games really mean for the activities and cultures we love.

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1. As Tim and Ed fever reaches fever pitch across the nation, at my agency we’ve been playing Commentary Bingo. What did we miss?

@welooksideways

Matthew Barr | A few thoughts on the Olympics, and the Ski Foss…

2. Related: I posted a few thoughts about snowboarding’s fraught relationship with the Olympics.

3. Related: Lesley McKenna is one of snowboarding’s best analysts, and it is brillisnt to see her work around the ‘risk aesthetic framework’, as she phrases it, continue to be widely shared.

This week she was on the Science of Sport podcast, and it’s very worth a listen.

10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.

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4. Related: it wouldn’t be the Olympics without a controversy around the judging on a particular snowboarding event: in this case, women’s slopestyle. The best take on this I read was by Stan at Slush Magazine, which I thought balanced the whole debate really well.

5. At the other end of the snowboarding spectrum: the great Nicolas Wolken, one of our generation’s most quietly influential riders, on the beauty and simplicity of turning.

6. The Farthest is a wonderful, awe-inspiring documentary about the twin Voyager space probes. If you’re in the UK, it’s on the iPlayer: seek it out.

7. Loved this collaboration between Finisterre and one of surfing’s most interesting thinkers. My 2023 conversation with Cliff remains a listener favourite:

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general observations on eggs

this is not an essay about Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights"

The cover image for this piece is Cloud Inversion in the Hope Valley from Surprise View by Yorkshire landscape photographer Dave Parry and you can buy prints of it here…

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2 months ago · 751 likes · 60 comments · Heather Parry

8. Maybe the most interesting interpretation I’ve yet read on the new Wuthering Heights adaptation. (Spoiler alert: I don’t think Heather liked it)

9 “If you've always wanted to write a book but couldn't find the time or struggled with the writing, you can work with AI to get it done”.

I’m probably overdoing the AI debate at the moment but I do find it fascinating to see how the debate continues to unfold, so here are two more links (apologies, they’re on LinkedIn) to mull over this week

The first: a viral essay by AI industry booster Matt Shumer which startlingly posits that 50% of white collar jobs will be gone in the next 1-5 years.

10. … and a necessary counterpoint from Ann Handley.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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Alice Sainsbury is a designer, writer and speaker who in 2015 was diagnosed with an acute neurological condition called transverse myelitis.

Since then, she’s been on a mission to break down the barriers that stop people with disabilities participating in the outdoor sports and activities that so many of us take for granted.

In this episode, we explore the reality of life for a disabled person in 2026, and the systemic, societal difficulties disabled people face when it comes to participating in outdoor sports and activities.

We also discuss Alice’s own story, as well as her latest initiative UN[PARA]LD, which launches at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics with the aim exposing a hidden barrier in elite sport: the incredible fact that many Paralympic athletes are still required to adapt, alter, or retrofit their own outdoor and alpine clothing in order to train and compete.

This is one of the most illuminating and intellectually-stimulating conversations I can remember hosting on the podcast. I learned a lot, and I think you will too.

To find out more about Alice’s work, and the UN[PARA]LD initiative, click here.

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1. Earlier this week I was invited to the press screening of Dirty Business, a new Channel 4 drama about the UK’s ongoing water scandal. I think this is an important piece of work, and I recorded some thoughts on it that you can watch above.

2. I had a few people messaging about me use of the word ‘enshittification’ in that clip; and as coincidence would have it Cory Doctorow, the coiner of that term, was on Ezra Klein discussing it just this week.

3. As mentioned: next Thursday February 19th I am hosting a Zoom call about Ski Fossil Free’s Olympic campaign with initiators Calum Macintyre and Nikolai Schirmer.

We’ll be discussing the campaign and its aim with Greenpeace’s Russell Harvey, Creatives for Climate founder Lucy von Sturmer, Magnus Graner of 1000Skis, Erlend Eggen of Klimakultur and Olympic athlete Uqaleq Slettemark.

Sign up and learn more here.

10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.

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4. Did you know that adaptive athletes, even up to elite Paralympic level, are forced to modify their own clothing to enable them to compete and participate?

Me neither. Which is why this week I recorded a fantastic episode with designer, writer and speaker Alice Sainsbury. Alice lives with a chronic neurological condition and collaborates with global sports and outdoor brands to break down the barriers of access faced by people with disabilities.

She is also one of the people behind the new UNPARALD initiative, which launches at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics with the aim of exposing this hidden barrier to participation, and providing a community based solution.

The episode is out next week; in the meantime find out more about the campaign above or here.

5. My favourite thing about every Olympic Games is, of course, the commentary of my old pals Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood. So big up none other than Caitlin Moran, who paid homage to the pair in the Times this week.

6. Arc’teryx and Spencer O’Brien, by way of Brian Eno, with just a very nice shot of a very nice looking turn.

7. The Society of Authors has just published ‘Brave New World? Justice for creators in the age of GenAI’, a really important report on the impact of generative AI on the creative industries that calls for the implementation of a new regulatory framework to prevent the ‘decimation of the UK’s £124.6 billion creative industries sector.’

8. Many thanks to photographer and film-maker Chris Baker for sending me a copy of his ace new zine Outer Regions, a collaboration with runner Decca Faire that is ‘ a conversation about running identity shaped by contrasting landscapes’ shot in Kitzbuhel and Norfolk. I think Chris has a few copies left - DM him on Insta to get involved

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9. This week’s reading: my Joan of Arc jag continues, with the Thomas Keneally novel that Baz Luhrmann is apparently adapting for his forthcoming Joan biopic.

10. Among the widespread outrage at Jim Ratcliffe’s comments on immigration, trust Barney Ronay to have the most perceptive and vital take.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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1. I had a great time this week hosting a showing of Hotpipe Hillbillies, the ace new documentary about our beloved Brighton Shitpipes surf spot made by locals Claire, Al and Steph. Great to see our local surf and water community come out in such force to support local creative shenanigans ❤️

@welooksideways

Looking Sideways Podcast on Instagram: "I love a read, me. And …

2. I’ve been enjoying experimenting and recording a few book recommendations recently.

Here’s this week’s: on the first great novel I’ve read in 2026 - and five books about the American Civil War to help you understand what’s going on in the States right now.

And don’t forget to let me know what you think about my recommendations, or any reads you think I should know about.

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3. If you’ve listened to this week’s conversation with Orlando von Einsiedel, you’ll know one key theme is the difficulty of funding projects in the current climate - even if you have an Oscar in the locker.

A timely week, then, for my pals at Finisterre and the London Surf Film Festival to announce the launch of their fantastic Women of the Sea Film Fund for 2026.

Applications are open until March 8th (international Women’s Day), and the winner will take him a not too shabby £10k grant and a guaranteed premiere at LS/FF.

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.

4. On topic: very happy to see one of first Looking Sideways x Db Fund winner Turning Tides released out into the wild this week. Congratulations to film-makers Antoine and Eloise; you can watch their finished piece above.

@colbertlateshow

The Late Show on Instagram: "Leave it to Shakespeare and @ianmc…

5. Sir Ian McKellen’s performance of Shakespeare’s The Strangers’ Case from the play Sir Thomas More is a timely and timeless reminder of the power of art to help us understand our own times, even at 400 years distance - in this case, the ‘modern’ conversation around immigration.

If you click any links this week, make it this one.

@skifossilfree

Ski Fossil Free on Instagram: "❗️❗️Last night the IOC President…

6. One of the questions I attempted to answer in my series The Announcement, and through subsequent conversations with thinkers such as Len Necefer, was a simple one: what does ‘effective’ activism look like?

The Ski Fossil Free campaign, spearheaded by Nikolai Schirmer, just gave us one answer to that question - watch the head of the IOC being asked about the campaign at a press conference, above.

@greenpeace

Greenpeace International 🌍 on Instagram: "Winter sport needs s…

7. On topic - Greenpeace with a hard-hitting and AI-free campaign on the same subject.

8. On the subject of the Olympics - as somebody who remember well (and was indeed, part of) the debate around whether snowboarding should be in the Olympics back in the day, my social feeds are an interesting place right now.

Judging from the amount of cheerleading for the Olympics going on among my snowboarding industry pals, my position of sceptical critical thinking (is it possible for snowboarding to uphold it’s ‘core values’ in an Olympic setting, and should we perhaps question whether this is indeed possible?) has never been less fashionable.

Thanks heavens then, for thinkers like Lesley McKenna, whose work as an athlete, coach, administrator and now Phd student has been exploring the tension behind this important question for years now.

Lesley has just launched a new website and platform through which to continue the discussion, which was picked up in this really sympathetic and nuanced Guardian story.

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9. Misha Glenney just scored what is surely the most sought-after (and terrifying, given the size of the shoes to fill) job in British arts broadcasting: new presenter of In Our Time, after the peerless Melvyn Bragg retired last year.

10. Remember James Marriot’s essay on the death of literacy that went viral on Substack last year? Marriot has now turned the treatise into a book, which will be released later this year, and his conversation on the BBC’s Global Story podcast is an interesting explanation of his ideas.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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Oscar-winner, snowboarder, and one of the most influential documentary filmmakers working today, Orlando von Einsiedel makes his return to the show, nearly eight years after his first appearance.

In that time, films such as Virunga, The White Helmets and The Lost Children have set a new standard in gripping, immersive documentary story-telling.

Recorded live at the 2025 Kendal Mountain Festival in front of a sold out audience, this wide-ranging conversation centres on Orlando’s latest film The Cycle of Love, which is currently cleaning up on the festival circuit.

It also a rare, honest insight into the reality of life at the sharp end of documentary filmmaking, even when you appear to have achieved the success everybody craves.

We dig into Orlando’s creative process, the state of the documentary landscape, and the somewhat dire financial realities of getting ambitious projects off the ground, even for an artist of Orlando’s calibre.

If you enjoyed my recent episode with Lucy Walker, or are interested in the real, often precarious mechanics of a creative career, this one’s for you.

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1. Just back from an ace week chasing my two Aussie nephews, who have both been riding for about a week, around the Three Valleys. It was so fun and inspiring to see the mountain anew through fresh, perpetually stoked eyes.

2. Our drive back to Normandy took 11 hours, so as we passed signs for Orleans, Tours, Paris and Rouen we binged this excellent Rest Is History series on Joan of Arc.

This is an extremely basic comment but - I had no idea what a completely bonkers story this actually is. I now can’t wait for the forthcoming Baz Lurhmann take.

3. Current reading: this exhaustive (and occasionally exhausting) Nick Drake biography.

A reminder that the 2026 reading list is go here, and I’ve started a brand spanking new Chat thread for 2026 which you can join below. Big up everybody who is sharing their recommendations on there 🙌

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.

4. The Boss with a swiftly-written response to recent events in Minneapolis.

5. Outdoor brand Alpkit has had quite a week: going into administration and then being immediately picked up as part of a ‘corporate restructure’. More here.

Here & There

Why I'm Not Writing Off Patagonia

I just got back from the Ski Industry Climate Conference, hosted by Atomic, Protect our Winters Europe, and The Winter Sports Sustainability Network (WSN). There are a lot of takeaways I’ll dive into in the coming weeks, but overall, it was a sobering event. The industry is up against massive, systemic issues that intersect economics, policy, climate, a…

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3 months ago · 87 likes · 18 comments · Kyle Frost

6. “It's frustrating how much oxygen Patagonia suck up when others are doing good and better work,” said regular Looking Sideways correspondent Tim LeRoy last after I shared Foster Huntingtons’s piece.

Well, I hate to add to that pile, but here are two more takes on the brand I thought were worth sharing this week.

The first (above) was this by , a thoughtful counterpoint to Foster’s bit…

Dropping In

All Hands On Deck

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2 months ago · Calum Macintyre

7. …and the second was this challenge to the brand to do more to meet the current moment in the States by the always provocative and insightful . (cc ).

8. is one of my more thought-provoking Instagram follows, particularly around his views on what constitutes a genuinely pioneering achievement in today’s world of increasingly spurious adventure firsts.

So I enjoyed his recent Adventure Podcast conversation, in which he debated these issues and more with host . Listen above

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9. Snowboard gang: if you’re in London (or Are) next week, my pal Rich ‘RP’ Roberts is hosting an evening with The Reason and Klattermussen which celebrates all things board graphics. Details above.

10. I’m such a huge fan of Rebecca Solnit’s writing, and her latest essay on what technology' ‘takes from us’ is a must-read contribution to the debate around the current AI-fuelled direction of travel.

To illustrate it, here’s a short video of a flight of swans I took the other morning. Have a nice weekend.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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That’s one reason I started Insights, the Looking Sideways section exclusively for my paid subscribing community, in which I share blogs, pods, guest posts and videos on this theme.

Here are some samples to get you started:

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That same impetus to share the creative wealth was the inspiration behind the Looking Sideways x Db Fund, through which we offered creatives and storytellers a practical way to bring their dream projects to life with funding (a none-too-shabby €5000 for each winning entry); and mentoring from me and Db ambassadors such as Chris Burkard, Pacha Light, and Cuban Lu.

In spring 2025, we whittled our initial 300 entries down to a shortlist of six. Then, in June 2025, we chose our two winners:

And now there’s even more good news: one of our winners Emily Cooney has finished her project!

To celebrate, and to find out how Emily found the experience of finishing the film and working with Db mentors Chris Burkard and Timothy Myers, I caught up with her for a quick chat.

Watch the finished film below, and read on to find out more.

Your film is out! How are you feeling about the whole process?

That it’s taken a while! This has been one of the projects I’ve had in the works the longest. I had the idea about two years ago, and I would say from there it took about a year to mature into production.

Because I am so personally connected to the storyline, I would say my favourite part of the whole process has been getting to know all of the participants and reflecting on diabetes. It feels so nice to have it released and receive words of inspiration from others with T1

Some of the feedback from viewers has been really brilliant. It seems like there’s a real appetite for this type of take on action and adventure sports. Has this surprised you?

I wouldn’t say I’m surprised. I think nuance is really important when it comes to film-making, and I don’t think this topic hasn’t really been touched upon in the same way before.

That said, I hope the film is accessible enough for people without T1D to enjoy it as much as those who already have an understanding of the condition.

Hopefully, social media will help spread it far and wide, too.

How did winning the Db x Looking Sideways Fund help you bring this project to fruition?

Originally, I thought the film was going to be completely self-funded, so the €5000 prize has gone a really long way. It allowed me to employ an animator and a sound mixer (both of whom also have T1), and also reimburse the participants for the time (and money) they put in.

Five thousand euros goes a long way in a project you originally thought was going to be unfunded. It not only allowed me to employ an animator and a sound mixer (who also have T1, by the way) but also reimburse the participants for the time and money they all committed when agreeing to take part in the film.

How was it putting this film through the mentorship process that came as part of winning the Fund?

Financially speaking the Fund was great, but I would say the mentorship was even more valuable. Having people to bounce ideas off, whether around logistics, the edit, or the storytelling, was a really important part of the process.

Was any of the feedback or insight you received surprising or particularly challenging?

The main feedback I received about the film was around the story structure, and how the film needed a central element to bind all the other stories together. They recommend that should be me as filmmaker! This made me uncomfortable, to say the least.

It was super valuable to learn what it’s like to be in front of the camera, but I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it. Editing yourself is so hard. Respect to all of the influencers out there.

Your film wasn’t selected for Kendal. How do you handle setbacks like this?

Initially I had two aims for the film: to break down the barriers perceived by for those with type 1 diabetes who are curious about outdoor sports but believe that it is not accessible to them, and to raise awareness among those active within outdoor sports communities who don’t know much about T1D.

Not being selected for Kendal did feel like a setback, but as in every art form, films are subjective. I think believing that the value of your work is determined by others is a bit of a slippery slope. I feel I’ve met my original aims, and that everybody in the film has been reflected truthfully. So in my eyes, it’s a success.

What did you learn from the whole process?

I have learned to look at storytelling in different ways. During the interview stage of production, I learned to stay quiet after somebody had spoken, so they could reflect upon what they’d said, and say it more concisely without prompting.

I also experienced the joy of seeing a vision in my head animated in such a fantastic way.

What’s next for this project?

I am planning on a screening in North Wales at the end of January. I’m looking forward to experiencing peoples’ reaction to the film as they watch! In the edit it’s difficult to imagine watching the film for the first time, so this is always a really cool part of the process for me.

Beyond that, I just want as many people to see it as possible, whether that’s online, at film festivals, or through screenings.

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1. My latest Looking Sideways guest is legendary European freeride snowboarder Axel Pauporte. Here’s me dialling in from the French Alps to explain why you should listen it. And here’s the episode link below:

A RESTLESS TRANSPLANT

Akin to believing light beer is a solution to alcoholism: My time at Patagonia

In the late spring of 2012, the cash from my advance for The Burning House photobook was running low and I was in no mood to return to anything resembling a traditional office. I was less than a year into living in my van, had just fallen in love with surfing empty point breaks in Baja and was working on a photo project that turned into Vanlife. Neither…

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3 months ago · 1026 likes · 145 comments · Foster Huntington

2. Foster Huntington’s highly critical Patagonia opinion piece has been doing the rounds this week.

At first I thought it was an insightful piece. Having re-read it, I realised it is anecdotal commentary, not journalism.

Of course, it is interesting to hear such an avowedly sceptical take on one of the sacred cows of the outdoor industry.

Other than that, I’m not too sure what it really adds to the wider conversation around the brand, other than to help reinforce everybody’s existing view.

It’s an ex-employee talking about his personal experiences at Patagonia, years after the fact, and making the (dare I say, somewhat obvious) inferences that billionaires can be unpleasant and ruthless, that multi-billion dollar company Patagonia has a cutthroat corporate environment, that clothing companies aren’t paragons of sustainability, and that - and this might really shock you - Patagonia are really good at marketing themselves differently.

If your favourite book is Let Me People Go Surfing, then you’re going to think he’s a bitter ex-employee with an axe to grind.

If you’re predisposed to think Patagonia are a bunch of hypocritical shysters and Yvon Chouinard is a huckster, then you’re going to find it revelatory.

One of the main reasons I wanted to make my series The Announcement was because the typical discourse around Patagonia tends to be so cartoonish, Manichean (‘They’re saving the planet! No, they’re evil!) and self-validating, and doesn’t really engage critically with the actual issues at play.

Stuff like: what the future of capitalism looks like, the democratic impact of unelected billionaires, the actual impact of this idea of ‘business for good’ when it comes to fighting the climate crisis, the current state of philanthropic capitalism, the damage caused by everybody constantly leaping to easy win/social-media influenced binary conclusions, and so on.

For me this piece falls into that camp.

3. Billy Strings covering Fearless by Pink Floyd is great.

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.

4. Congratulations to my friends Nick Hounsfield and Abby Richardson on the forthcoming publication of their new book Do Blue. Preorder here.

5. I’m really enjoying Mike Lay’s new YouTube series, in which he’s attempting to surf and cycle his way around the UK. Watch the latest above.

6. Tortoise Media have followed last summer’s Salt Path expose with a forensic new podcast series that goes even more deeply into this most contentious of stories.

7. Does Skiing Matter When The World Is Burns, asks this timely Powder Magazine story.

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8. Perfect January listening: Luke Una is back on Worldwide FM.

9. I’m a little late to this, but the ever-excellent Freak Zone’s David Bowie tribute show was great.

10. My thanks to Chris Hines for sharing this really interesting piece on the impact of climate change on the sports industry.

Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️

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If you ask me, this week’s guest Axel Pauporté is one of the most influential snowboarders of the 1990s and 2000s.

Even if you don’t know his name, you’re living in a snowboarding culture that he helped shape. Especially if you’re a European snowboarder.

To qualify this rather bold claim, it helps to remember how singular an outlier Axel truly was.

Back in the early 90s, professional snowboarders from mainland Europe were a genuine rarity. Professional snowboarders from flat Northern European countries such as the Netherlands, the UK or Belgium, where Axel was brought up? Legitimate trailblazing pioneers.

All of which makes Axel’s career path especially legendary. Here was a rider who started snowboarding late - and on dry slope to boot. And who, by the end of a storied twenty-year career, was universally regarded as one of snowboarding’s greatest ever freeriders, and had demonstrated that European riders could lead the way in a proving ground like Alaska alongside peers such as Travis Rice, Jonaven Moore and Jeremy Jones.

And the story of how Axel made this happen is as unlikely as it is instructive. This really isn’t your standard pro snowboarder origin story.

Here we have an outsider, both literally and figuratively, who was driven by a potent emotional combination: his own insecurities, a Stakhanovite work ethic, and a ferocious desire to use snowboarding a way of finding a sense of belonging.

In Axel’s case, that ultimately led him to AK, and the pursuit of risks that today make him pause and wonder, as we discussed.

As you might be gathering, this is a very honest conversation that covers belonging, identity, and the psychology and selfishness of risk; as well as the reckoning that comes to us all once the body and mind begins to fade, and other priorities take precedence.

Big thanks to Axel and my friend Dave Mailman for the help with this one.

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