May 2022

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Big News
Inflation hits hard. As if living through a financial crash and global pandemic wasn’t enough, the rise in inflation, up to a four decade high, has led to a cost-of-living crisis in the UK. Rises in the price of food, bills and fuel brought on by a combination of the war in Ukraine and supply chain issues (likely due to Brexit but made worse by Covid-19) are leading to difficult times for everyone in the UK.  Although when I say everyone, I mean those of us not hiding our families millions away in tax havens *cough* Rishi Sunak *cough* 

Monkey pox spreads globally. In even more exciting news there is growing concern around the spread of monkeypox, a milder, but equally worrying, cousin of smallpox. As it stands cases have been reported in the UK, America, Canada and Spain; no doubt by the time this is published more will have been announced. Thankfully it appears that person-to-person transmission is rare, and it is thought that it is spreading via close contact with bodily fluids, such as saliva from coughing or pus from lesions. Thus far health authorities are still classifying this as an “outbreak” but the situation is being monitored closely; especially since vaccines for monkeypox are in short supply.

Little News: 
Congressional hearing on UFOs reveals…not a lot. In more light hearted news that you may have missed, the US government confirmed that aliens exist. Ok, slight exaggeration. Earlier this month the US congress held an open briefing on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). While this sounds like an exciting opportunity, almost none of the testimony suggested that aliens have ever visited our little blue planet. There was little in the way of specifics, and no doubt the best material will remain classified. While it would be nice to imagine that UAPs are due to visits from other worldly entities, evidence suggests that it is probably unidentified human aircraft or a natural phenomenon we just haven’t explained yet. 

What I’ve been enjoying this month
Dungeons & Dragons. Growing up D&D was something I’d heard about but never had the chance to try. A few years ago a friend of a friend invited me to a game. Ever since then I’ve been hooked; what’s not to love - pretending to be a badass adventurer, defeating evil monsters, and saving the day (if the dice allow it). I’ve been in a few D&D groups over the years but, thanks to the pandemic, I haven’t played for a while. Inspired by a recent D&D stream I dusted off my old character book and started coming up with ideas for my next character. My goal for the next month is to try and find some gullible adventurers to join me on my next quest! 

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