Mind The Gap
Pick Of The Week – 17th December 2025
This newsletter is a curated cornucopia featuring some of the best of Medium and Substack, and the wider world, rumoured to exist outside of these platforms.
Please note that in view of the impact of AI on the writing community, Eco has a stringent “No AI-content” policy, and will seek to actively avoid any articles we consider to be partly or fully generated by AI, and not feature authors believed to be using it in this way again. We are fully committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. In support of our aims and objectives, 10% of earnings from this series will be donated to Greenpeace.🌈
This newsletter is currently published free on Substack, but if you would like to support us please do pay to subscribe.
Sponsors – a link to donors and paying Substack subscribers 🦄 will appear here:
Ecosia; The Environmental Transport Association; Mary Grindeland; Writer Chick With A Ukulele; Adéla Valčíková; Rob Moir;
Pick of Medium – (advisory allergy note – may contain poetry)
Jerv Nai Matrap discovers a generation gap when meeting family friends:
https://medium.com/the-springboard/my-dad-doesnt-want-me-to-come-out-to-his-friends-4b04ca68a82a
Robin Wilding provides a tour of the generations:
https://medium.com/@robin_wilding/alpha-to-zoomer-every-generation-explained-91f04bf1681d
Ripton Green appreciates the community on Medium, if not the fiscal freeze:
Yana Bostongirl wants your full attention, please:
https://medium.com/illumination/the-1-reason-your-articles-arent-being-read-95b5882b67ae
Leonard Tillerman reviews his early days on Substack:
Ripton Green stokes a spelling saga:
Walter Rhein comments on a book by Kamala Harris:
Adrienne Beaumont likes a challenge:
https://medium.com/the-challenged/im-a-wannabe-mountain-climber-34678b94bf4c
Bin Jiang turns hitman – you had better read his article!
Carlo Zeno is feeling ignored:
https://medium.com/never-stop-writing/substack-writer-wakes-up-to-no-audience-6d9d5563b458
Anu Maheshwari shares some of a full and varied life on the move:
https://medium.com/true-travel-tales/a-traveler-for-life-is-who-am-i-e5074df80a64
Ann Skip describes a first love:
https://medium.com/softmemory/i-fell-in-love-with-a-neuroscientist-14df7bd285ec
Nihari Singh wins a commission:
Obigha Glory considers the changing gender roles in the modern world:
https://medium.com/build-your-voice/why-the-old-rules-no-longer-fit-new-lives-b9f37b44adfd
Iqra Arshad reviews the year in VERSE:
https://medium.com/catharsis-chronicles/the-shape-of-this-year-4bc48b294edb
Nihari Singh reflects on Medium matters:
https://medium.com/write-a-catalyst/why-medium-reads-will-stop-mattering-in-2026-f3fa77b5d6f3
Ripton Green learns a lesson:
https://medium.com/@ripton/the-hidden-upside-finding-the-good-when-things-go-wrong-77ef60588dfb
Archana has a rant about claps on comments:
https://medium.com/pen-with-paper/dear-readers-please-stop-clapping-my-comments-1c0edfeceeb9
Tip of the week –
Wes Pearce offers some top tips to go for growth:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-181378331
Kristi Keller 🇨🇦 has some tips to make your Substack more welcoming:
Bin Jiang reviews his Substack strategy and gives some tips and observations on viral Notes:
Pick of Substack:
As America tacks sharp right, umair provides a lesson in economics and why not to fall out with your allies:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-180935407
Bin Jiang reveals more about the person behind the writing machine:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-181406355
Burk ponders the future of Substack:
https://stories.byburk.net/substack-is-not-a-newsletter-1fcd7719dd61
Andrew Morris is struck by imposter syndrome:
https://andrewmorrisworld.substack.com/s/whisperings-from-the-edge
Caitlin McColl 🇨🇦 calls out plagiarism on Substack:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-181366832
Smillew shares a redacted tale of woe:
Wes Pearce has been watching you:
Laura B. with a POEM on survival and art:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-177697987
The wider world:
Living off-grid is not always the dream some describe:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd9l8wxjpo
Many of us are now spending more time online:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39prelx2mxo
This article considers the impact of lower urban speed limits in some English cities:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e94pe6w9ro
The UK’s dash for growth has consequences:
A report visits the route of HS2 to see the damage caused by the white elephant that is the UK’s high-speed rail project:
There are calls to tackle methane emissions in the same way that treaties sought to mitigate damage to the ozone layer:
Political News
Fears about asylum seekers are leading to vigilantes and vigils in one Sussex (UK) village:
Court cases are creating a minefield over the rights of trans people and access to bathrooms:
An article on life inside some of the councils taken over by Reform UK:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/13/reform-uk-lancashire-council-seven-months-in-power
AI News
Shoppers are increasingly using AI to help make their choices:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xd8prjvj0o
A new novel has been released by the person behind “Grand Auto Theft”, in which AI hijacks people’s minds:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2epm9z9kkvo
From the article about the book:
“Microsoft’s head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman, has warned of a rise in AI psychosis - a non-clinical term describing incidents where people increasingly rely on chatbots like Claude, Grok and ChatGPT and become convinced that something imaginary has become real.”
Tech News
Scientists are developing carebots – this feature explains the future in store:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wdzyyglq5o
Life Hack of the Week –
Neela 🌶️ highlights how smartphones isolate us as much as they assist communication:
Quote of the Week:
“In the dark night of the soul, even the smallest star can guide us home.” Joni Mitchell
Joke of the Week:
(Health warning – swallow coffee before reading)
My occasional table seems to have vanished.
One spelling mistake can ruin your marriage.
I accidentally texted my wife “I’m having a great time. I wish you were her.”
I ate a parrot for breakfast. Now it’s repeating on me.
Did you know?
Pigeons can recognise themselves in a mirror — a skill so rare it’s shared with only a few animals like great apes and dolphins.
Word of the Week:
“parrots and monkeys” – this is an old saying, as in “get your parrots and monkeys together, we’re heading out”.
The phrase was used to describe the kit of servicemen and is believed to have originated in India during British rule there. Parrots and monkeys were often brought home as pets when soldiers finished their service. The final command an old sweat would hear on a quayside, before boarding a homeward-bound troopship was:
‘Pick up your parrots and monkeys and fall in facing the boat’.
Today it has fallen into wider use and is often said before setting off on any journey when you have to take either belongings, sports kit, tools etc., as in:
‘Grab your parrots and monkeys, we’re off!’
Clip of the Week:
A close escape:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cx2ey15l4zro
As always, thank you for reading, and enjoy your day.
Editor’s comment: It is noted that the authors featured above have not consented in advance to their inclusion - I have assumed that authors appreciate a mention and sharing of your work – but if you do not wish to be featured please let me know and apologies.
Honoured to be featured amongst such august company. Will go a-roaming. Thanks John!
Thank you so much for the feature, John.
You are the best at supporting others.
I appreciate you putting this together.