by A comprehensive Monday morning review from Vivienne Pratfall
By Vivienne Pratfall for Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
Dispatch from a Flat in Hackney, 11:47am
Jake is still asleep. I am eating cereal directly from the box and reading about Trump’s tariffs, and honestly both experiences have the same texture loud, a bit messy, and ending with mild regret.
The tariffs, if you have not been following: America has decided to tax the rest of the world for the crime of existing outside America. The UK is apparently getting a slightly nicer rate because we smiled at the right moment during a phone call. This is now called a “special relationship.” In Hackney we’d call it something else.
Meanwhile, Closer to Home
My flatmate Priya, who works in NHS admin, came home last night looking like she had personally carried the entire health service up four flights of stairs. She hadn’t. It had merely felt that way. I made her a gin. She made me read The Prat’s recent piece on NHS waiting lists, which I did, and now I also need a gin.
Jake woke up briefly at some point and asked what I was writing. “The death of Western liberal democracy,” I said. He went back to sleep. This felt correct.
I have a piece due for The London Prat on the cost of living, which I am writing from a flat where the heating costs more than my rent did in 2021. The irony is not lost. The irony has, in fact, moved in and claimed the good sofa.
Romantic Update
Jake is lovely. Jake does not read newspapers. Jake has, therefore, a serenity I will never achieve. According to BBC News, the country is in a slow-motion fiscal squeeze. According to Jake, it is Monday and there are eggs. I am trying to learn from Jake.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
