My petty gripe: we need nature, not Nickelback – please put on your headphones
For some reason, though, I assume a subset of the population weren't informed of this miracle invention. These are the people who insist on playing music aloud through their phones – or worse, through a handheld speaker – in public places.
I will admit that I experience the occasional touch of misophonia. But there's nothing more guaranteed to set off the Hyde to my Dr Jekyll than nonconsensual amplified audio.
Why do people do this? Is it just rudeness? I'd blame the fact that iPhones no longer come with supplied headphones except that there has always been someone, proverbial or literal boombox on shoulder, who thinks the rest of the world desperately needs their specific favourite banger, right now.
Of course, it's not just music. An increasingly common culprit is the doomscroller who seems oblivious to the fact that everyone else on that peak-hour train can hear the first three seconds of every TikTok they swipe past, too. It's as tedious and rage-inducing as watching someone else channel-surf.
So let me make this clear: we don't want to hear it. Not on the train. Not in the street. Not in the office. Not in the park. And it should go without saying (but clearly it doesn't): absolutely not at the beach or in the forest. Do you have no sense of shame? These are spaces for contemplation and quiet retreat, not Nickelback.
I'm willing to accept, though I don't pretend to understand, that for some people the noise in their head is so unbearable it must be drowned out by Mambo No 5. I just don't think it should be inflicted on the rest of us.
There's a reason nonconsensual music is considered a form of hostile architecture. Are you trying to torture people? No? Then put your headphones on.
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Wales Online
4 days ago
- Wales Online
Thirty tasty cocktail recipes to help celebrate National Rum Day
Thirty tasty cocktail recipes to help celebrate National Rum Day Rum's versatility makes it a staple in countless classic and modern cocktails National Rum Day Rum is one of the most versatile and storied spirits in the world, known for its rich history and wide range of flavors. Whether you're a seasoned connoisseur or a casual enthusiast, rum offers a unique drinking experience that caters to a variety of tastes and occasions. Rum is distilled from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses or sugarcane juice, and its flavor profile can vary dramatically depending on the production method, aging process, and region of origin. From the light, crisp notes of white rum to the deep, complex flavors of dark and aged rums, there's a rum for every palate. Rum's versatility also makes it a staple in countless classic and modern cocktails. It pairs wellwith a range of mixers, from citrus and tropical fruits to cola and ginger beer. Here are 30 recipes to help mark National Rum Day... 'Lilt' Rum Punch (pitcher/4 cocktails) 100ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 150ml Pineapple Juice 150ml Grapefruit Juice 450ml Sparkling Lemon & Lime drink 2 Limes Grapefruit Wedge Method: Cut the limes into segments then add to a pitcher. Muddle until thoroughly crushed. Fill the pitcher with ice, then add the rum, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice and sparkling lemon and lime. Mix to combine. Prepare four rocks glasses by adding a grapefruit segment to each. Pour the cocktail between the four glasses. Tropical Tempest by Ashleigh Cilliers, Hyde & Co, Bristol 10ml Lime Juice 30ml Pineapple & Chilli Syrup* Top Soda 50ml Gosling's Black Seal Rum Method: Build in a highball over ice before floating the Goslings on top. Garnish with a lime wedge. * Pineapple & Chilli Syrup: Heat 250g of pineapple juice (optionally strained through a coffee filter to clarify it) with 125g of caster sugar and a good pinch of crushed red chilli flakes (I use 2.5g). Stir until fully dissolved and warmed through. Leave to cool before straining out the chilli flakes. Storm in Queen's Park 50ml Gosling's Black Seal Rum 8ish Fresh Mint Leaves 20ml Lime Juice 10ml Simple Syrup* Crushed ice Top Ginger Ale 8-10 dashes The Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic Bitters (on top) Method: Build all ingredients except the bitters and ginger ale in a highball. Churn with a spoon, top with ginger ale and finish with 8-10 dashes of The Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic Bitters. Garnish with a handsome mint sprig. Seal of Approval 30ml Gosling's Black Seal Rum 25ml Passionfruit Liqueur 25ml Cooled filter coffee 5ml Demerara syrup (or to taste)** Method: Add ingredients to a mixer and stir before straining into a stemmed cocktail glass. ** Demerara syrup: Combine 1 part (by weight) boiling water with 2 parts demerara sugar and stir until fully combined. Banana Rum Punch 45ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 15ml Banana Liqueur 50ml Apple Juice 50ml Pineapple Juice 10ml Lime 2 Dashes The Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters Lime or pineapple Ice: Shaken Method: Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake. Serve in rocks or highball glass including shaken ice. Garnish: lime or pineapple. Glass: Highball/Rocks Banana Seal Shake 35ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 2 frozen bananas 2 scoops vanilla ice cream 100ml milk 20ml sugar syrup Method: Place all the ingredients in a good blender and blitz until smooth. Half fill a rocks style glass with ice and pour in the shake. Glass: Rocks glass. Ice: Ice cubes. Garnish: Slice of banana Bermuda Mule 45ml Goslings Gold Seal Rum Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer (or just a good quality ginger beer) Orange slice to garnish Method: Fill a tall glass with ice, pour in the Gold Seal Rum and then top with the ginger beer. Garnish with an orange slice. Blue Mountain Martini 45ml Karisimbi Golden Rum 30ml espresso 15ml Maraba coffee liqueuer 10ml demerara sugar syrup Pinch of salt Method: Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and hard shake with ice. Fine strain into a chilled coupe glass. IRN Storm by Chellsea Dagger, Yard and Coop, Manchester 125ml Iron Bru 20ml lime juice 50ml Goslings Black Seal rum Method: Stir the Iron Bru and lime juice together over ice and float 50ml goslings in top. Garnish with a lime wedge. Storm-a-rhu'in 30ml Goslings Black Seal rum 20ml Rhubarb liqueur 25ml lime juice 125ml Jamaica ginger beer Method: Shake the Goslings rum, rhubarb liqueur and lime juice over ice. Fill a tall glass with cubed ice and pour 125ml of old Jamaica ginger beer over the ice. Float the rum & rhubarb mixture, garnish with rhubarb and lime. One in the Hand, Two in the Sack 25ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 15ml Lime Juice Pandan Leaf & Kaffir Lime Syrup 100ml of Pedrino Sherry & Tonic Lime wheel/wedge or Pandan Leaf Large, cubed ice Method: To make the fragrant simple syrup, add one chopped Pandan leaf and two Kaffir Lime leaves to 100ml of boiling water and leave overnight to infuse. Bring the infused water to the boil with 200g of caster sugar, then lower the heat and dissolve before leaving to cool. Juice a lime half into a tall glass with ice, then add your Pandan/Kaffir syrup, Goslings Black Seal Rum and finish by topping with Pedrino Sherry & Tonic before stirring well. Glass Highball Dark 'N Stormy Float 50ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 150ml ginger beer 1 scoop of ginger ice cream Method: Add ice to two highball glasses, then pour in the ginger beer. Top with the rum, then finish with a scoop of ginger ice cream and a grating of lime Diplomatico Spritz 25ml Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva 50ml Bitter Liqueur Soda Water Ice Orange Slice Method: Simply serve over ice in a large glass and garnish with an orange slice Wray's Rum Punch recipe (serves 4) 100ml Wray & Nephew 400ml Pineapple Juice 100ml Pomegranate Juice Squeeze of fresh lime Method: Fill a punch bowl with cubed ice. Add 100ml Wray & Nephew to bowl. Add all other liquids. Stir and garnish with fresh fruits. Piña Co-Lager 50ml Goslings Gold Seal Rum 330ml Einstök White Ale 200ml pineapple juice 50ml coconut water Garnish Pineapple Leaves Method: Pour the rum, pineapple juice and coconut water into a large stein or tankard. Add a handful of ice and mix to combine. Top with the Einstök White Ale. Garnish with three pineapple leaves. Air Rwanda 30ml Karisimbi Golden Rum 15ml fresh lime juice 15ml honey syrup Champagne or sparkling wine to top Method: Add the first three ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Fine strain into a highball glass and top with champers/sparkling wine. Karisimbi Mojito 60ml Karisimbi white rum 30ml fresh lime juice 4-5 mint leaves 1 tsp sugar Method: Lightly muddle the lime juice, sugar and mint in a jug or cocktail shaker. Add ice to a highball glass and pour over the concoction. Next add the rum and then top with soda and stir. Garnish with mint leaves. Mai Tai 45ml Bacardí Añejo 4 Rum 15ml Fresh Lime Juice 7.5ml Orgeat 15ml Orange Curaçao 7.5ml Simple Syrup (1:1) 2 Dashes Of Orange Bitters Method: Combine all ingredients into a shaker with cubed ice and shake vigorously. Strain your mixture into a large tumbler glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig, orange slice and lime wedge. South Shore 60ml Goslings Gold Seal Rum 120ml Lemonade 60ml Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer (or just a good quality ginger beer) A few sprigs of fresh mint Method: Fill a glass with ice, add the Goslings Gold Seal Rum, lemonade and ginger beer. Slap 3-4 mint leaves to release the oils, add to the glass and stir. Garnish with a lemon wedge and a few mint leaves. Appleton Estate Mai Tai 35ml Appleton Estate 8-Year-Old Reserve 15ml Grand Marnier 15ml Orgeat 25ml lime juice To garnish – lime slice and mint sprig Method: Combine all the ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and pour into a double old-fashioned glass and garnish with the lime slice and mint sprig. Pina Colada 50ml Bacardi Carta Blanca Rum 35ml Fresh Coconut Water 25ml Fresh Pineapple Juice 3-4 Chunks of Fresh Pineapple 2tsp Caster Sugar Pineapple Wedge as Garnish Method: Add pineapple chunks and sugar to a shaker and gently crush. Pour in the Bacardi Carta Blanca Rum, pineapple juice and coconut water. Stir with a bar spoon. Shake vigorously. Serve over crushed ice in a hurricane or highball glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge. Summer Fruit Daiquiri 100ml Goslings Gold Seal Rum 250ml Summer Fruit Puree 1 Lime Garnish Fresh Raspberry Fresh Blackberry Method: Squeeze the juice of 1 lime into a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, then add the rum and summer fruit puree. Shake until well combined, then pour into chilled coupe/margarita glasses. Garnish each cocktail with a fresh raspberry and a fresh blackberry. Dark 'n Stormy Granita Method: Pour can of Goslings ginger ale into a freezer-proof container and freeze for three hours. Every 30 minutes, go back and break up the ice. Add to the slushy to a glass and tip the Goslings Black Seal rum on top. Garnish with a slice of lime Summer Rummer Pitcher 100ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 300g frozen summer fruits 4 Jazz apples (juiced) 350ml Prosecco to top Method: Take the frozen summer fruits straight from the freezer and blend with a JAZZ apple juice until you have a smoothie-like consistency. Add ice to a 1 litre or 1 ½ litre jug and the pour the smoothie mixture on top. Next pour in the Goslings Black Seal Rum and stir well. Finally, top with the Prosecco. Serve with one large ice cube in a single rocks glass and garnish with a mint sprig. Appleton Estate Jamaican Daiquiri 500ml Appleton Estate Signature 25ml fresh lime juice 5ml sugar syrup Lime twist for garnishing Method: Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with lime twist and enjoy. Rumango Kiwi Punch Method: Peel the kiwi fruits and cut two in cubes and smash the other two in the bottom of a jug with a few mint leaves. Next add the cubes of kiwi along with one of the limes which has been sliced. Juice the other lime and add to the jug. Next add the Goslings Black Seal rum, the mango nectar and British Cassis before mixing well and then chilling. When ready to serve, add ice to the jug to refresh and serve in a Nick and Nora glass or wine glass Dark 'n Stormy Ice Cream Float Vanilla ice cream Chopped crystalized ginger Gosling's Black Seal Rum Ginger beer Candied lime Method: Allow the vanilla ice cream to soften. Add chopped crystalized ginger and Gosling's Black Seal Rum and blend it all in. Re-freeze and serve when ready. Add one generous scoop of the ice cream to a large milkshake glass.. Add 50 ml of Golsings Gold Seal Rum and then slowly pour ginger beer on top. Decorate with a slice of candied lime. Rum Swizzle 120ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 120ml Goslings Gold Seal Rum 135ml Pineapple Juice 135ml Orange Juice 20ml Grenadine 6 dashes of Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters Method: Into a pitcher, fill a ⅓ full with crushed ice, then add Goslings Black Seal Rum, Goslings Gold Rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, Grenadine and aromatic bitters. Churn vigorously until a frothing appears or mix in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a tumbler with fresh ice. Garnish with a lime slice and a cherry. Goslings Iced Tea Rum Punch 150ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 100ml Lime Juice 100ml Pineapple Juice 50ml Lemon juice 100ml Simple Syrup 400ml Freshly Brewed Black Tea 4 drops of The Bitter Truth – Old Time Aromatic Bitters Ice Method: Brew black tea and allow to cool. To a jug, add all the other ingredients and stir. Garnish with lime and pineapple and serve. Jazz Jungle Bird Article continues below 50ml Goslings Black Seal Rum 15ml Campari Bitters 1 Jazz Apple juiced 15ml Lime Juice 10ml Sugar syrup Method: Add all the ingredients to a shaker with crushed ice. Shake well and strain into a highball glass with several cubes of ice. Garnish with lemon, oranges and lime slices.
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Scotsman
Apocalypse knocks Edinburgh Festival off the front page
The world's biggest carnival seems to have been in town for months, so it's quite sobering to realise we have only just completed the first full week of the Fringe. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... And it's been quite a dramatic seven days here in Edinburgh, where the festival itself has not been centre stage. It all started off on Monday with apocalyptic warnings about potential loss of life due to Storm Floris. We were told not to leave our houses unless strictly necessary. We were warned that the weather was so severe that if we went to the corner shop for a newspaper or a pint of milk, we would face certain sudden death. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The BBC lunchtime news carried grim warnings about cancelled shows at the Fringe. Not that this deterred students handing out flyers in the Cowgate. The storm force winds merely turned their leaflets into paper planes. As well as the scenes from Edinburgh, the BBC also broadcast their traditional footage of some poor reporter doing their piece to camera in front of a full-on hurricane in Ardrossan harbour. This seems to be Reporting Scotland's go-to destination on a blustery day. I've always felt sorry for these people. When they signed up for BBC News, they doubtless held ambitions of a life of glamour as the Paris correspondent or the adrenaline rush of being part of a crew in a war zone. Instead they get packed off top Ardrossan on a grim windy Monday morning. It was definitely unseason-al. We are used to storms like this in winter but not in early August. Scottish winters may be uniquely depressing but summers in this country can be even worse. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad At least in the winter it gets dark at 4pm. On Monday night, you could look out of the window at 9.30 at night and it was still daylight so you could actually witness your wheelie bin careering down the street. In November, you would not have known about this until first thing on Tuesday morning In the end, Edinburgh dodged a bullet compared to the rest of the country, although it did impact the festival a bit. While all the indoor shows went ahead, the Tattoo was cancelled. How soft are the modern military? Calling it off because of a bit of wind. Surely they must train to fight in extreme weather conditions. God help us all if Putin's army manages to invade on a breezy day. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Then on Wednesday, the entire city was on red alert in the early evening. Walking through St Andrew Square towards my show at The Stand, the police helicopter was hovering overhead and fire engines and cops cars were speeding towards the scene of some incident or other. The rumour mill went into overdrive, as Chinese whispers were passed from mouth to ear. Princes Street had been closed to traffic. Some said there was a bomb at Waverley Station, others that a suspect package had been found under the Scott Monument. Someone optimistically suggested that a bus had ploughed into the Silent Disco. It turned out to be a bunch of young ends kids chucking bricks onto the pavement from the roof of a building on Princes Street. The one thing more disruptive than terrorism is bored kids at the end of the school holidays.
The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
I hate podcasts with a passion - but I'll make an exception for these
It's not simply the sheer preening audacity of believing the planet awaits your wisdom which offends - though that does grate. It's mostly that podcasts are so bloody awful. We don't need another one. The internet is full. There's nothing left to say. There are 3.5million podcasts on Earth right now. That's like the entire population of Uruguay - including new born babies - producing their own podcast. Read More: Podcasts make me stabby because I love radio. I've worked in radio, I've hosted loads of hours of talk radio for the BBC. When radio is good, it's great. Podcasts take everything which makes radio good, put it in a headlock and run with it into a brick wall, repeatedly, until it's dead. The principle problem is the rank amateurishness. Search for podcasts on any given topic - sport, history, politics, culture - and nine times out of 10 it'll be some lonesome gimp in their egg-boxed attic droning into a mic. It'll sound more like a serial killer tape sent to the police than a functioning piece of radio. I'm into topics like mythology, ancient history and anthropology. So let's say I go hunting for something like the history of Babylon, or the lives of Neanderthals. Up will pop a podcast so unlistenable, so lacking in production values, with a script so shonky, that it offends against reason. What's worse is the podcasts which could be good but deliberately cock it up. There's a show called Myths and Legends. I should love it. Each week, it's meant to retell a great myth. But the producers feel compelled to mess with it. They try - God help us - to be funny. If I wanted stand-up routines, I'd go to a comedy club. I'm here for the gods and monsters. Or there's You're Dead to Me, a history podcast, which again thinks listeners can't appreciate facts unless some comedian mugs for the mic. It's actually a bit offensive. A spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down is not required. We've got brains. The use of music is often so dreadful it will render an entire podcast unbearable. We don't need mood music like we're at the silent movies in the 1920s. Give me a wee intro tune to brand your show and then get into the intelligent chat. When crap music, naff comedy, bad scripting and multiple ads for crypto-currency and haemorrhoid cream collide in podcasting, being a passenger onboard a crashing plane becomes more appealing. The infection has spread from the internet to the home of traditional radio. The BBC now airs multi-part podcasts that sprawl over weeks, when a tight half hour would suffice. A Radio Four podcast called The Grave Robbers - about criminals faking wills - runs for five 30 minute episodes. Don't get me wrong. The story is important. But two and a half hours? That's longer than the movie All the President's Men - about Watergate. The BBC now seems more interested in podcasts than TV or traditional radio combined - which may explain why most of its output is so dire. The podcasts which really make my eyes sweaty with wrath are ones like Newscast, where a bunch of hacks - in this case the insufferable Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O'Connell - talk about stuff they've just talked about on the proper news. It's the same with the Today podcast with the equally intolerable Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson. Why does it even exist? It's like some horrendous audio Groundhog Day. And don't even get me started on Americast with Justin Webb. For context: Robinson pockets £410k, Kuenssberg £395k and the horrific Webb £365k. To compound the absurdity, some of these podcasts are in video format too. Why? It makes no sense. Evidently, nothing out-stinks the conspiracy podcast, however - the type of dreck put out by someone like Joe Rogan, a comedian and fight commentator who somehow single-handedly took over the world's media and got Trump elected. He's the Idiocracy made flesh. He's also the reason why everyone wants their own podcast. If politics is showbiz for ugly people, then podcasting is influencing for folk who look like giblets. At least once a month, someone will ask me if I'd like to start a podcast with them. The notion is that as I'm a journalist I could balance out whatever they represent - food, academia, sport, movies, juggling, wig-wearing, yak-wrangling. And at least once a week, someone will ask if I'd like to come on their podcasts. The answer to both is no: primarily because there's bugger all money in it, unless you're Joe Rogan or Laura Kuenssberg. Why would I spend an hour in your basement broadcasting to an audience of zero when I could be sleeping or earning actual money? It's amateur hour for narcissists with too much access to technology. I'm also pretty disgruntled - certainly lacking in gruntles - over the rebranding of great radio as podcasts. Melvin Bragg's In Our Time is quite simply unparalleled. It's perfect radio. Now, though, the BBC calls it a podcast … even though it has been on Radio 4 since 1998, long before the word 'pod' was ever coupled with 'cast'. I'm not going to pretend there aren't some great podcasts. I'd endure an entire week of gurning idiots cracking Covid jokes over blaring elevator music and adult diaper adverts for one hour in the company of Paul Cooper and his Fall of Civilisation's podcast. It's everything great radio should be: subtle and unobtrusive music, atmospheric audio, brilliant scripting, pitch perfecting hosting. A masterpiece. The very best podcasts - like Cooper's - go on to have lives beyond internet sound files. That's how you know they're good. Cooper got a book out of his show - deservedly so. Another great comes - astonishingly - from the BBC: the Uncanny podcast with Danny Robins. It takes spooky events - ghost sightings and such - and subjects them to a thorough investigation. It's slightly gimmicky - with a resident sceptic and believer - but it's just too well made to find fault with. And the music is absolutely on point. Robins saw his podcast turned into a TV series. When podcasts first started, there was a glut of murder and true crime shows. That's what seemed to sell, so that's what the herd copied. Now, like TV, the choice is all but endless, and there's no functioning filtering system. It overwhelms. Podcasts have become a symbol for our cultural decay: there are no standards, just a roar of pointless noise. Amid the cacophony of dross, the real gems of genius are drowned. We cannot find what matters, because we're surrounded by mediocrity. The podcast is perfect proof of this hard truth: everyone does indeed have the right to a voice, but sadly most voices are just so bloody dull. Neil Mackay is the Herald's Writer-at-Large. He's a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics
