A very warm welcome to my website. I hope you enjoy your stay.
I’ve had a relatively busy week IRL, which means the pickings are slim for this week’s #HHOTW.
I have been trying to clear out old junk that’s accumulated around the house for about 30 years, and it seems to be an endless task. Last week, I showed you one of my finds, my MTV baseball cap from the mid 80s. This week’s discoveries were photos, mostly of me. One of them is from 1991 or 1992, which makes it the oldest photo of myself that I have, outside of old press credentials, and passports. I won’t be posting my photos online. I expect that won’t cause too much disappointment.
All I have to share are two shitposts, both related to the passing of the Pope.
The first one features JD Pants:
And the second one was snapped especially for Instagram:
Oh, and I’ve got one quick GIF that I made. Full disclosure: The version I’ve posted here is video because for some reason GIFs stutter when I post them here. I have no idea why.
That’s it for this week. Told ya the pickings were slim. I’ll aim to do something double extra special next week, to make up for my piss poor performance today. Catch ya next Friday for more #HHOTW hilarity and fun.
Greetings groovers. It’s already Friday again. How’d that happen so fast? I’ve got a small selection of treats, but you don’t need to wait till Easter to enjoy them.
The main highlight this week is a piece I wrote about the rapidly deteriorating situation in the US of A. Whether you follow the news closely, like I do, or you just dip in and out, this piece pulls together a whole bunch of evil stuff that the Trump regime is doing. You can read the piece RIGHT HERE, or you can click the distress graphic below.
One photo
I actually went outside this week. It was good. I should do it more often.
One Shitpost
I’ll let it speak for itself. Additional commentary is not required.
An Easter treat!
If you need some entertainment this weekend, I suggest you check this out. If the special is successful, we’re hoping to take to a full series.
And that wraps us up for this week. Make sure you pop by again next Friday for even more hippy hilarity!
Most of us knew it was going to be bad when Trump got back into the White House, but few could have anticipated the speed at which he is destroying everything. From international alliances to the actual US Federal Government, he is slashing and burning it all down. The hippy takes a look at a country in distress.
In less than 100 days, Donald Trump and his regime have done more damage to America than I thought possible. In that brief time, Trump has managed to show the world that the USA has become unreliable, unstable, nasty, dictatorial, and imperialistic. And let’s not forget what his batshit tariff plan is doing to the international economy.
America is no longer your friend, ally, or partner. America is now a transactional actor. What’s in it for them? And beyond that, they want to dictate laws in other countries as well, and they will make any treaties or trade deals contingent on their weird whims.
America is now unapologetically an evil empire, and Luke Skywalker ain’t coming to the rescue. America is lost, and it won’t be coming back any time soon. The faster the world accepts this new reality, the easier it will be for everyone.
Sicko-fants
Trump is not doing anything he didn’t promise to do if re-elected. None of it should be a surprise, except for the speed and intensity of it all. He has surrounded himself with sycophants and ass-kissers who encourage and applaud his every move, as if the idiot were a genius.
Trump makes several heavily curated media appearances daily. He loves a good photo-op while surrounded by his cabinet, who all praise him mercilessly.
I don’t recommend playing a game where you take a shot of whiskey every time one of them says “Thanks to President Trump’s strong leadership…”. If you do, you’ll be hammered before the photo-op ends.
An unnamed administration official told the media not long after the inauguration that Trump looks at each day as an episode of an ongoing TV series. And every day he has to vanquish his enemies. He needs to create the illusion of winning constantly.
Trump’s cabinet of crazies aren’t just his Greek chorus of approval. They also enable him, and carry out his instructions, and further his evil agenda thoughtlessly. Loyalty, and fealty are the chief requirements to be in this administration. Plus looking good on TV. Naturally.
Trump lies constantly, and then they all parrot his lies. It’s a continuing, non-stop firehose of falsehoods. Critical thinking, truth telling, and standing up for what’s right and best for the country, won’t ever happen with this bunch of fascists.
Look again
Full Fat Fascism
Yep, I went there. The American government is full of full-on fascists, enacting full-on fascist policies. The entire world should be concerned.
Even if you’ve seen this list of early warning signs of fascism before, it’s well worth revisiting now. A copy of this is displayed in US Holocaust Museum.
Here’s the list again, annotated with links to examples of each item on the list, all from Trump’s first term. The Trump Regime Mark II is already so much worse.
I didn’t have imperialist ambitions on my bingo card for the second Trump administration.
Trump has threatened to take over the Panama Canal, to annex Greenland and take it away from America’s NATO ally, Denmark, and he wants to force Canada to become the 51st state. Even weirder, he won’t rule out accomplishing those goals via military force. He wants to invade, and take over sovereign countries, and territories. He claims it’s all needed to keep America secure. Sure thing, Donald.
At first people assumed he was joking, but Trump doesn’t joke. He doesn’t even laugh, except at the expense of others he deems lesser. No, Trump is deadly serious about being a conquerer.
North of the border, Trump’s threats and insults have actually helped Mark Carney and his Liberal Party. They have gone up in the polls in the lead-up to their general election. Trump is unwittingly assisting them towards victory.
Plain-clothed immigration cops are acting like “snatch squads”, kidnapping both legal and undocumented immigrants, as well as legal residents right off the street. It doesn’t seem to matter who gets swept up in these raids.
America then traffics these abductees across state lines, and to foreign countries. There is no due process, it’s just pretty much just this: “These are bad hombres. Trust us bro”.
They’re trying to justify these clearly unconstitutional actions by citing an archaic law from 1798, called the Alien Enemies Act. It’s quite a legal stretch, not that laws matter any more.
The Supreme Court has instructed the White House to “facilitate” his return, but they have refused, as has the Salvadorian government. The US Attorney General said he is never coming back. They say the only way anyone leaves CECOT is in a box.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to “deport US citizens”, You can’t deport citizens, whether born on US soil, or naturalised. If the US government really did this, then we need to call it out. It’s kidnapping, or trafficking, but not deportation.
We are in uncharted territory now. No one seems to know what will happen once the White House unquestionably defies Supreme Court rulings. Who can enforce the laws, when the government breaks them?
The one Supreme Court ruling Trump does respect is that he has “absolute immunity”, so laws don’t really matter to him now that he’s president again. The actual ruling is slightly more nuanced than that, but Trump doesn’t do nuance.
America has never been perfect, but it feels like Trump and his winged monkeys want to diminish it. Destroy it. And take the rest of the world down with them. So far, they’re succeeding.
The worst person in the world has been elected the President of the United States, again. The sooner the rest of the world accepts it, and reacts accordingly, the better.
America is lost. And it’s not coming back any time soon. Say it out loud. RIP USA.
After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real.
Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.” “Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read. You will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
If you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?
Good morning, afternoon, or evening, depending upon your exact location on our dying planet. Welcome to another edition of Hippy Highlight of the Week, or #HHOTW for short.
Here’s a piece I wrote about the year 1975, specifically about some media that you really should check out. You can find it RIGHT HERE, or you could click the link to the graphic below. The choice, as always, is yours.
Prediction
I made this graphic a while ago, and posted it on Twitter, and Reddit. It’s a prediction that I totally want credit for, should it come true. I’d wager it’s about 50/50 that Orange Shitler actually does it.
And for the interests of transparency, here are links to my original posts from February on TWITTER, and REDDIT. Would it surprise you if he did this?
Discovery
This is kinda cool. I have been clearing old crap out of my place for a while, and as I have been doing it, I’ve discovered things I thought were lost. Here’s one of them:
I was given that hat when I completed my internship at MTV in NYC nearly 40 years ago. If you would like to read about my time at MTV, I wrote a 4 part series about it, called MTV Redux. You should check it out.
Two quick shitposts
First there’s this one:
And here’s number two:
Housekeeping, sorta
I’ve been doing this on Twitter for a long time now. I don’t know why exactly, but I do know the full moon affects me, especially my sleep. The moon influences the tide, and humans are mostly made of water, so it must be high tide in our heads. I choose to believe it’s true. Anyway, this month’s full moon alert is animated:
That’s it for this week. Check back next Friday for more #HHOTW fun!
Getting old sucks, but I don’t need to tell you that. You’ll find out on your own, if you’re lucky/unlucky (delete as appropriate). I find it really weird to be able to say shit like “50 years ago blah, blah, blah”, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do. How’s that for a warm up?
Fifty years ago this year, two films, and one album came out that remain on my list of all time favourites. All three are well worth remembering, and revisiting. And if you’ve never enjoyed them yourself, then let the 50th anniversary of all three be the nudge you need to check them out.
The first film is “Jaws”, and if you’ve never seen it, you absolutely should. It was the very first big summer blockbuster. I don’t mean it was the first big Hollywood movie, but it was the first hyped-up film released in the summer, that went on to set box office records. But it wasn’t just a commercial success, the film was also critically acclaimed.
“Jaws” was promoted heavily, and had a lot of pre-release buzz surrounding it, prior to it’s debut. The way the film was successfully marketed became the blueprint on how to advertise new films. The pre-release excitement had people queuing around the block just to get a ticket.
I was 12 years old in 1975, and I got caught up in the massive hype too. The film was based on a very successful novel of the same name, written by Peter Benchley. In anticipation of the film, I devoured the paperback, much like a great white shark might, in big giant bites. And I read it more than once.
The film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. They omitted a minor subplot involving Chief Brody’s wife having an affair with Matt Hooper. It was a smart decision, as it would have been a distraction, and it would have made the character bond between Brody and Hooper weaker.
I saw the film at the very first screening on opening day. The film was a blast, and a half! Dramatic, exciting, action-packed, and just a tiny bit gory. Who knew shark attacks could be so messy?
The shark in the film, named “Bruce” by the crew, was a practical effect. There was no CGI back in the olden days. Could they make the shark look better today? Of course they could. Should they remake the film? OMG no no NO! The film still stands up today, and is as watchable now, as it was when I saw it in 1975. It’s extremely entertaining.
The second film I’d like to highlight from 1975 is “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, which was also wildly popular, though the subject matter was far less commercially appealing.
Based upon the 1962 Ken Kesey novel, the film went on to sweep all five major academy awards; Best film, best screenplay (adapted), best director, best actor, and best actress. It was also a commercial success, and surprisingly funny, considering the seriousness of the subject matter.
Michael Douglas was one of the producers on the film. At one point, his father, Kirk Douglas, was attached to star in the it, but that was more than a decade before this version was produced.
The story centres around Randall Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, somewhat morally challenged, wise-ass, petty criminal, who feigns mental illness, and his locked up in a psychiatric hospital. He does this to avoid a worse fate, hard labour in prison. McMurphy is played by the great Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s performance really drives the film. It is easily one of his best.
Jack Nicholson is one of my all time favourite actors. And he’s my homeboy, as we’re both originally from the same bit of the Jersey shore, though I didn’t know it back then.
McMurphy’s nemesis in the film is Nurse Ratched, played by Louise Fletcher. She is in charge of the ward in the mental hospital he ends up in, and she sees wise-cracking McMurphy as a threat to her authority. Both Fletcher and Nicholson won well deserved Oscars for their performances in the film.
And if you’re really paying attention, you should spot a young Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd in the supporting cast. The film was rated “R” in America. As I was only 12 years old, it meant I wouldn’t be admitted unless an adult accompanied me. I was ultra-hyped for the film, having read countless articles, and reviews about it, as well as seeing clips on TV. I spent weeks begging my father to take me to see it.
My dad wasn’t really a cinema goer, and I can count the number of times he went to the cinema with me on one hand. But I was persistent, and extra helpful around the house. He finally relented, and off we went.
I am not going to spoil the plot, as the less you know going in, the more you will enjoy it. As I said, there are parts that are laugh out-loud funny, but there are other elements that are extremely sad. Some might even say shocking, certainly to an audience 50 years ago. I expect it would be the same for an audience today.
If you ever get the chance, watch it. You really will laugh, and you will cry, and you will thank me for turning you on to such an amazing film.
“Born to Run”, is the album that made Bruce Springsteen a household name when it was released in 1975. All I ask is that you listen to it once. I’ve listened to it countless times, but I can remember the first time I heard it, like it was yesterday.
It was a few years after it’s release that I went Springsteen mad, but it was hard to miss the publicity he received when “Born to Run” came out.
Sure, we have NJ in common, but I think it wouldn’t have mattered where I lived. I would have still been into his music, and would have still become a huge fan wherever I grew up. That said, it didn’t hurt that Bruce and I lived in the same area, it was actually very cool.
When the record was released, Bruce was on the front cover of both Newsweek, and Time Magazine at the same time. That was pretty much unheard of, back then. Talk about hype!
Jon Landau, who was a music critic back in the day, provided this often quoted line, after attending a Springsteen performance: “…I saw rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen”.
Landau was right. He also went on to work with Bruce for a while, as a producer and manager. And he helped Bruce get out of his terrible first record contract, that was signed in the dark, on the hood of a car.
There are only 8 songs on the album, and it’s a just under 40 minutes long, but those 40 minutes insured that Bruce became one of the biggest rock and roll stars in the world. And 50 years later, that is still true.
I would suggest you listen to “Born to Run” at least once in track listing order. Think of it as a journey, follow the stories, and see where they lead.
In the 1970s, albums were considered an art form of their own. There were even radio stations that followed a format called AOR, which stood for Album Oriented Rock. You’re actually meant to listen to them their entirety. “Shuffle” is something else that wasn’t a thing back in the olden days.
Don’t think of all this as a homework assignment. Take it for what it is, a small, curated list of my top three pieces of media from 1975 that have more than withstood the test of time. I know there are many other films, and albums I could have name checked, but these three are special to me. One day, they might be special to you too.
After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real.
Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.” “Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
If you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Hippy Highlight of the Week (#HHOTW)! I’ve already kept this going for more than 3 weeks. I think that’s some sort of personal best.
I’m already thinking of renaming this to make it “highlights”, plural. I seem to have more than one thing every week that I want to share. Sure, they aren’t all equal, but they’re still highlights of my week. That means I have to make a new graphic just add the letter “s”. I was planning on updating all my graphics anyway. I’m rambling already, let’s get to the good shit. Literally.
I wrote a piece about why I’m shitposting so much, and so often. It’s called “Shitposting through the Apocalypse“. It tries to explain why I’ve been such a prolific poster recently. I’m making at least one a day, and sometimes more.
I won’t include any additional shitpost graphics here, as there are quite a few in that piece. Just click the above image, or link, and you’re there. I hope you dig reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I really did enjoy writing it.
The hippy has been shitposting prolifically since mid January. You can guess why. It’s how he’s coping with everything going so wrong, so fast.
“Shit, I know shit’s bad right now…”. is a well known quote from a famous documentary entitled “Idiotcracy”. I highly recommend that you see it, but if you can’t, please don’t worry. Right now, we are all living it. Yay!
When the shit gets shittier, the sane start shitposting. I’d like to think that I’m sane, and I have definitely been shitposting. A lot.
What’s a shitpost?
For me, it’s something that I’ve created that is swift, sharp, pointed, and hopefully amusing to someone out there. I try to make, and post them quickly, so they’re timely.
The jokes are meant to be basic, with a very low bar. I try not to spend more than 5-10 minutes creating them. Here’s one I just made.
The trade war is just the latest outrage. Don’t worry, the next outrage will be along soon, and it will distract you from the previous one. Rinse and repeat!
I’ve always had a thing for jokes that make only one guy in the back, laugh. I also enjoy making Trump supporters upset. It’s not that hard, many of them were born triggered, and are seeking reasons to overreact.
In the states, he is dismantling many of the federal assistance programs that people depend upon, like Medicare/Medicaid, and Social Security. And he’s gutting the federal workforce, so there will be fewer people left to deal with the messes he and his henchmen are making.
Dodgy
And guess what? He’s not too bothered about whether these drastic changes hurt his supporters. He doesn’t really care about them, or anyone else. There are many Trump voters who are already publicly regretting their votes. That didn’t take long.
And then there’s Ukraine. Trump’s peace plan there involves America extracting all of Ukraine’s natural resources, while green lighting Putin’s desire to keep chunks of the country. If you ever doubted that Trump and the Republican party were compromised by Russia, I bet you don’t doubt it any more.
Gabbi Tulsard
Just remember, as it all goes very wrong, it’s never Trump’s fault. Or his regime’s for that matter. They’re perfect, just ask them. I even created a shitpost about the hierarchy of MAGA blame.
The dumber my shitposts are, and the less effort I give them, the better they perform online. Simple works best
Now showing in the US Capitol!
Blow something
Look again!
Everyone copes with bad stuff differently. Shitposting is my coping mechanism. And I am coping fairly well, if the volume of my output is the metric you measure.
“Shit. I know shit’s bad right now…” and it is only going to get worse. And when it does, my prolific shitposting might very well save the world. (The previous sentence is a shitpost 😜)
Say it out loud
After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real.
Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.” “Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
If you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?
Way hey! It’s Friday, so it must be #HHOTW day! Well, I’m excited, that must count for something.
This week’s main highlight is that I finally wrote a piece updating the world on my epilepsy. I know, hold the front page, right? I have an entire sub-section here on my site about living with epilepsy, so I must be taking it somewhat seriously. Truth is, having epilepsy has changed me; redefined me. I am not the same person I was before all this bullshit started. Epilepsy has changed me in more ways than I can count. I don’t know if I am a better person, or a worse person, but I do know that I am a different person.
To read the piece, you can scroll down, as it is currently just below this post. Or you could click RIGHT HERE, or you could even click on the #EpilepsyHippy Logo below. So many choices!
Bonus content
My tiny urban garden is a wildlife wonderland. Just call me the pound shop Sir David Attenborough. Here are two short clips from just outside my back door:
Close Call in the Garden:
And this one is called Squirrel Acrobatics:
Tell me those clips aren’t highlights, I dare you! 😛
One Shitpost:
I have made dozens of graphics in the last couple of months. Here’s one from the last week about Greasy Pete Hegseth, who is currently on a tour of Asia. He’s a blithering idiot, an incompetent fool, and way out of his depth. In other words, perfect to be part of Trump’s cabinet chaos.
Housekeeping
My 20th anniversary year officially ended this month, I am now into my 21st year of being a fake online hippy.
That means I’m blowing up all the 20th anniversary signage, and I will be re-branding all my logos, and graphics into something new. Don’t ask me what yet, I have no idea.
Anyway, that’s it for this week’s #HHOTW. Until next Friday, stay cool mofos!
The hippy provides a very long overdue update on his epilepsy. Seems like things are not as bad as they’ve been, and that’s created quite a quandary for our favourite fake hippy.
I haven’t had a major seizure in nearly 14 months. It’s the longest stretch of me being seizure-free since all this epilepsy nonsense started.
You might have noticed I said “major seizure”, meaning the type that lands me in the back of an ambulance for a free trip to A&E. I do continue to have partial seizures occasionally, but nowhere near as frequently as I did before I started treatment.
Partial seizures are not as scary as tonic clonic seizures. There are two types; simple, and complex, and I have both.
For me, partial seizures have often preceded, and triggered tonic-clonic seizures, but these days, I think my meds are preventing them from becoming worse.
A simple partial seizure is one where I am aware that it is happening. It’s starts with a weird feeling of unease, followed by a series of strong emotions, the first of which is desperately incredible sadness, followed by a huge sense of massive impending doom. If I don’t go on to have a major seizure, I then have a brief period of aphasia, and my heart rate increases dramatically.
A complex partial seizure is one where I am not aware that I’ve even had it. Before I was diagnosed, I referred to this phenomenon as “brain blips” or “time skips” because I would lose a few moments of consciousness. Imagine watching TV, and your mind wanders, and for a few minutes you’re tuned out of what’s happening on screen. It’s sort of like that, only you’re tuned out of life. A big clue I’ve had one is a heart rate spike, which gets picked up by my Apple Watch.
For the first three years of having partial seizures, I didn’t know what they were. I thought it was having some sort of breakdown. Now that I do know conclusively what I am experiencing, I cope with them much better. They’re disorienting, and unsettling, but they’re nothing like the really bad ones that have nearly killed me. I still wouldn’t be able to drive a car, or even ride a bicycle, but it is progress.
Why am I telling you all this? Because for the first time since all this started over 6 years ago, my brain may actually be stable, and I am not at constant risk of SUDEP. I really believed epilepsy was going to kill me, and it hasn’t. And all that leads us to the title of this piece: “Now what?”
Now what? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot since I passed the one year mark of not having a big, bad seizure. My previous record was 361 days, and as of today I am at around 418 days without a major seizure. Go me!
Now what? I genuinely don’t have a clue. I miss working, and would love to find something fun to do, maybe a day or two a week. In an ideal world, working from home, but since I’ve been major-seizure-free, I have been braver about venturing out into the wider world. Well, somewhat.
There are other issues, like the fact that I haven’t properly gotten dressed in like 6 years, and my clothes don’t fit me any more. I’ve lived in sweatpants, and tee shirts, while barely leaving my house.
I also haven’t been around other humans in a very long time. I’m not sure if I remember how to do it. I wish I was joking, but I definitely feel like I have de-socialised myself to a worrying degree.
I haven’t had a coffee, or a meal outside of my home in over 5 years. I had lunch with a friend of mine not long before the first lockdown of the pandemic, that was my last visit to a restaurant. That’s a long-assed time ago.
I genuinely don’t know what to do. I’ve been so isolated, and unwell for so long that I’m not sure if there is any way back to anything even slightly normal.
I consider contacting people I used to know, to seek advice, or some freelance work, and then I talk myself out of it. They’ve probably forgotten me, or they’ve heard about my health issues. Or maybe they found out I am the internet’s favourite fake hippy? Who knows? Not me, because so far, I haven’t pursued anything.
I also worry about rejection, I’m not sure I am as resilient as I used to be. There’s a lot of things I used to be, that I’m not any more. Thanks to my epilepsy, I have turned into a “used to be”, full stop.
They say it’s better to be a “used to be” than to be a “never was”, but I don’t know who “they” are, or if I believe them. If I was a “never was” then I wouldn’t know what I was missing so very much.
If you know anyone that would like to hire an old weather-beaten, broken down, short, fat, bald, fake hippy, with maybe properly managed epilepsy, then please get in touch. If I think I can do whatever it is that you need doing, I’ll do it. And if I can’t, I won’t be shy about telling you I can’t.
Try me. I still think I can useful to someone, somewhere. I’m just lost on what to do. And I still keep asking myself the same question, over and over: Now what?
PS – Don’t forget my brand new feature – #HHOTW – Hippy Highlight of the Week – every Friday evening, right at the top of my website.
After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real.
Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.” “Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
If you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?
This week, I wrote a short piece about why I’m still on Twitter, and why you should be too. If you scroll down a bit, you will find it. Or you could just click THIS LINK, or even the Twitter Logo. Whatever’s easiest for you is cool with me.
And while I’ve got you here, this is a bonus bit of content, an advert I made a couple of months ago, that I’d neglected to publish here on my own website. It’s only 30 secs, but what a 30 secs it is! Enjoy! I will catch you next Friday for even more #HHOTW fun!
The hippy gives you his hot take on the terrible state of Twitter, and why you should still be on it anyway.
I’m still on Twitter (the website no one calls “X”), and I still use it nearly daily. I’m definitely not on there as much as I used to be, but I’m still there. And you should be too.
When the Nazis occupied Paris during WWII, did all the Parisians flee? I’m sure some did, but the majority stayed. The French were there first, they outlasted the Nazis, and helped drive them out. I was on Twitter first. I’m not going to let some stupid, racist, fascist douchebags drive me out. Fuck them. That’s why I’m still on Twitter.
The Muskification of Twitter has been nothing short of a disaster for us Twitter old timers. Twitter used to be a mostly friendly place, full of quality information. It was the place to find breaking news first.
When I originally signed up for Twitter, it was for professional reasons. As a journalist, Twitter was an excellent resource for guidance, or finding footage, or eye witness accounts of major incidents.
Twitter kept me ahead on many different stories, and just off the top of my head, I got first confirmation of Michael Jackson’s death on Twitter, and I saw the first moving video of the Grenfell Tower fire here in London on there as well.
Twitter is much different today. It is full of misinformation confidently posted by the owner of the platform, his acolytes, and other “far right influencers”. It’s a lot of noise to deal with constantly, when all you want to do is find truth. People need to call out the bullshit. That’s why I’m still on Twitter. And why you should be too.
Many people I followed, and genuinely liked on Twitter have left the platform. I miss their tweets popping up in my feed, I miss the engagement, the conversations, the sharing of ideas, and links to interesting stuff.
I still read my replies when I get them, but I don’t sit there endlessly scrolling like I used to do. More recently, I tend to tweet, and run, with only two real goals: 1) To provide some giggles for all the cool, hip, empathetic people who remain on the platform, and 2) To trigger, and piss off the knuckle draggers. It’s not really difficult, it takes up very little time, and it’s fun.
I’ve become a prolific shitposter, mainly since Trump was inaugurated again. To be fair, I’ve been making silly graphics for a few years now, but never so many in such a short period of time.
My shitposting rules are simple: I don’t spend more than 5-10 minutes making a graphic. I try to be as timely, and newsworthy as possible. And I whenever I trigger a stranger enough to send me a snotty reply, I consider it a victory. That’s why I’m still on Twitter.
Even better, I use Musk’s AI, Grok, to generate many of the grotesque images I include. There’s a certain satisfaction knowing I’m using his technology to attack him, and the far right.
Obviously I don’t pay for a blue tick, but I don’t need one. As long as I tag the right celebrity, or politician, or use a trending hashtag, I get plenty of views, and engagement. And don’t forget retweets. There are still plenty of good people who haven’t left, and they are more than happy to amplify my shitposts. You should be one of them.
You need to fight the fascists where they live. In the 1940s, my Dad went to Germany to do it, and he “deleted” lots of them. Today, they all seem to live on Twitter, especially after so many banned accounts were reinstated, including the fascist-in-chief. I don’t claim to be anything more than a small thorn in their sides, but I’m doing what I can to combat them. That’s why I’m still on Twitter.
I don’t limit my shitposting to US politics, I am also partial to attacking our own homegrown, far right grifters, and evildoers, and their supporters.
During last summer’s riots here in the UK, I was also a bit prolific in my attacks against the racists. Again, the fun comes from their hate-filled, fat-fingered replies. That’s why I’m still on Twitter.
As a general rule, the nastier the response, the more random digits the attacker will have in their Twitter username. Add to that their lack of followers, and both are dead giveaways that these are relatively new accounts set up by people who have been banned, probably more than once, or paid for bots. You can help get them banned again, just by triggering them. Fish, meet barrel.
And believe it or not, Twitter is actually pretty good about hiding the seriously egregious replies, either as probable spam, or just disappearing them completely. You need to actively seek them out to see them. And don’t forget, the mute button is there for a reason. You don’t ever have to put up with anyone’s bullshit. I certainly don’t.
I’m on other platforms, like BlueSky, and Mastodon, and I am a prolific Redditor, as both a poster, and a scroller. It’s not as if I don’t have other options, but I am not going to let a bunch of grifting, far right scumbags occupy Twitter forever.
We were there first, and we can outlast them all. The only way I’m leaving Twitter is if Elmo bans me, and I really hope one of my graphics finally hits his screen. I dare him to ban me, and if he ever does, I’ll wear that shit like a badge of honour.
And that’s why I’m still on Twitter.
After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real.
Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.” “Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
If you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?
Welcome to a brand new feature I’m introducing today: Hippy Highlight of the Week! There’s a hashtag even, it’s #HHOTW. I made a graphic too. And spoiler alert, if you scroll down to the end if this text, you will see an eye catching animated version of it. Fancy!
What is #HHOTW? It’s pretty much going to be whatever I feel like it being.
Ideally, #HHOTW will be something I wrote, or made during that week, but it could be anything. Perhaps it will be a link to an important, interesting, or amusing internet thing, or a groovy playlist of tunes I’m listening to that week. Everything is fair game, as long as it is a highlight of my week. I do have a handful of ideas that I hope will dazzle you, for at least the first few weeks. And I’m sure as time goes by, #HHOTW will evolve into whatever it’s meant to be. Organic, that’s the word that I think applies.
You might be wondering why I’m doing this. Part of it is self-motivation, but the other part is more personal. I haven’t had a major seizure in over 13 months now. I have had some partial seizures, but they’re nowhere near as bad as tonic clonic seizures. Maybe the meds are finally right, and they are working? I’d like to believe that, but since I’ve spent the last couple of years expecting epilepsy to kill me, I’m not finding it easy. I’m hoping that #HHOTW will help me answer a question that’s been on my mind: Now what? What am I meant to do, now that I might not be dying for a while? I genuinely have no idea.
My plan is to publish #HHOTW every single Friday, without fail. And to make life simple, it will be the pinned post here on my website. So whatever my weekly highlight is, it will be right at the top of my home page. You won’t be able to miss it.
All you need to remember is my name: northlondonhippy. Add a “dot com”, and you’re right back here. And Google knows where to find me all over the net. You can’t hide from Google, unless you embed some code in your website. And why would I do that? It sounds complicated, and counterintuitive. I want people to be able to find my me.
So you don’t forget, I will be promoting my #HHOTW on many of the social media platforms I hang out on.
What’s my first #HHOTW? This post, obviously. I’ve gone ultra lazy, and this introduction is really it. Next Friday, the genuine fun begins. Think of this as post number: 100. Next Friday will be post 101, and it will be far more substantial. You can always follow me elsewhere, there’s an up to date list RIGHT HERE.
I am, as always, your ever lovin’, guitar strummin’, truth tellin’, weed puffin’ #epilepsyhippy.
Doug – the northlondonhippy – Friday 14th March 2025
My Humane Meat is selling so well, I’ve launched another new, direct to consumer product. Just email your order, along with your shipping details, and credit card number. And don’t forget the 3 numbers on the signature strip! Once you watch the video, you will want to stock up!
