Rachael McKelvey

• Have you ever survived a digital detox?
• Paying tuition fees to listen to David Cameron.
• How to wind down into the Christmas break
• Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX
• What’s your one thing that’s really two very different things?

Have you ever succeeded at a digital detox?
I’d like use my phone less but after the infamous separator (I used to have an iPod in 2020) became an integrator it’s really hard to let it go, I have recently spent some time in the presence of someone who needs phones turned off and it’s been quite nice once a week to just not be available for 2 hours.

I’ve always had the limit the time you spend on apps function on and recently extended that out from the working day to all day every day, but this week I’ve taken the apps off my home screen, I’ve put them all in a file on an odd tab in the hope that maybe some extra steps will just make me think twice. I’m not sure I’d survive a digital detox, but I would definitely consider a less smart phone in future.

Paying tuition fees to listen to David Cameron?
I’d be very interested to see the student numbers for NYU Abu Dhabi’s new course “Practising politics and government in the age of disruption” taught by non the less than former British Prime Minister David Cameron, it feels a bit like sitting in on a lecture from Exxon Mobil about the best way to preserve sea birds in and oil slock

I’m not entirely sure Cameron practised politics and government in the age of disruption, more started a chain reaction for absolute chaos and then snuck back to public life like butter wouldn’t melt, and that’s not even considering Greensill Capital – the biggest lobbying scandal of a generation that we just don’t talk about because everything is worse.

But who am I kidding, if it was on and I’d paid for a different course I’d absolutely 100% sneak in at the back and eye roll profusely.

How to wind down into the Christmas break
I wholeheartedly believe that yoga makes you a nicer person but practising with Yoga Christine is like the cheat code for the final boss the minute you set foot on your mat. I had the absolutely pleasure of attending her mini retreat this weekend and the theme was how to transition into the festive break.

How is that the most obvious things are the hardest to see? The analogy was that we all get to Christmas Eve and perform and emergency stop and wonder why we struggle on Christmas day to relax with white knuckles and whiplash, the trick is to use this week to mirror, signal, manoeuvre and gently pull up to Christmas day by taking time and care for ourselves.

And it seems too obvious I don’t know how I never really twigged that before.

Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX
Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested and denied bail in the Bahamas this week and is facing some serious criminal charges for widespread fraud (what multimillion pound business functions on QuickBooks!) for the goings on at FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded in Hong Kong in 2019 before moving it to the Bahamas in 2021.

He is likely to agree to extradition back to the US, to face the 13-page indictment with 8 counts including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud.

While this feels all very Fyre-festivally, the industry will still be talking about this in 10 years time, crypto might have reached the end of the road and blockchain has some real reputational damage to hedge.

What’s your one thing that’s really two different things?
I basically think my entire life is made up of one thing that are really two very different things. Reading books and buying books are two very separate hobbies, doing crafts and buying craft suppliers are two very different things, the me that does the food shop and the me that cooks the meals are two different people.

Turns out going gluten free and staying gluten free are also two very different things, especially at this time of the year. Why do gluten free wraps smell like playdough and taste like rolled out playdough, it seems unfair.

Current watch: Pepsi, where’s my jet – The Netflix docuseries of the story behind the court case Leonard v Pepsico, Inc. Everything in the 90’s was EXTRA and the adverts were no different. Pepsi wanted to shove it to Cola, the more Pepsi points you got from purchases the more cool stuff you could have, for a cool 7 million points you too could have a AV-8 Harrier II jet…or could you? John Leonard, aged 21, convinced 5 investors to help him get the points and he sent that claim straight into Pepsico. I love the law, but honestly, I love the bit behind the cases that you don’t see more. This docuseries is well worth a watch.

Current read: Enough: An Imperfect Antidote to Perfectionism – Vix Anderton – Another book that came recommended, a lovely little book you can read in one session about how perfectionism shows up in all our lives whether we realise it or not, a beautifully gentle guide to make you think, help you understand and compassionately take you on the journey. I think this would resonate with even the most reluctant of readers.

Most impactful listen: How To Academy: Tim Harford Meets Adam Grant The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know – A chat from early 2021 between two giants about individual rethinking and collective rethinking and why you should always think like a scientist! The smarter you are the harder you might find to update your beliefs, a podcast well worth your time.