Digested week: Let us focus on the few, brief bright spots we can

"And Prue Leith's leaving Bake Off. Let us focus, then, on the few, brief bright spots we can if we really squint hard into the darkness see. There's microplastics maybe not poisoning our every organ as thoroughly as we thought. There's Gwyneth Paltrow announcing that she loves a 6pm dinner and early beddy-byes. That's not quite how she put it, but that's what she meant."

"The new trend is not to bother with things for which the hinges and handles cost money to maintain and that people had assumed were a basic, immutable component to the room in which you eliminate unspeakable material while pulling a variety of faces unconducive to human happiness were they ever to be sighted by the unfortunates not already laid out by the gases you are simultaneously producing."

Blue Monday denotes the third Monday of January and is alleged to be the most depressing day of the year. Collective gloom is illustrated by anticipated minor misfortunes such as bad haircuts, disappointing secondhand purchases, and costly household leaks, plus Prue Leith leaving Bake Off. Small bright spots are noted: microplastics may not be poisoning every organ as thoroughly as feared; Gwyneth Paltrow prefers 6pm dinners and early bedtimes; and HBO Max will launch in the UK in March, bringing The Pitt starring Noah Wyle. Hotels are cutting costs by removing toilet doors or boxing loos with frosted glass, sometimes integrating sinks and showers into bedrooms.

Read at www.theguardian.com