The Daily Valet. - 10/21/22, Friday

✔️ That Was Fast

October 21, 2022

Friday, October 21st Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Insert a “check your child’s Halloween candy” joke here.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

Truss Quits, But U.K.’s Turmoil Persists

U.K. prime ministers have been falling fast since Brexit

Well, in the end, Liz Truss’s reign as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister has been outlived by a head of iceberg lettuce. After just 45 days in office, she resigned on Thursday.

It’s not a huge surprise, considering her approval ratings were extremely low. But there was so little confidence in her ability to stay in office that she was put in a race against a vegetable with a 10-day shelf life.

To say that Truss was disliked would be putting it lightly—the Telegraph reports that Truss was found to be the most unliked U.K. Prime Minister of all time. But her fate was sealed a few weeks ago when the market’s swift, withering verdict on Truss’ tax-cutting agenda shattered her credibility, degraded Britain’s reputation with investors, drove up home mortgage rates and pushed the pound down to near parity with the American dollar.

According to the Washington Post, her chaotic slow-motion car wreck of an ouster also reflects an ongoing identity crisis among the Conservative party. The fragmentation is what led to the “agonizing experience of Brexit and leaves open the question of not only who will lead the country, but in what direction.”

By next week, the U.K. will have its fifth prime minister since the 2016 Brexit referendum—the same number of prime ministers as in the previous 37 years. And this post-Brexit identity crisis has played out with the Conservatives in power. Axios believes a true reset might not be possible until they lose it.

When, or even whether, Britain can fully recover from this period of political and economic turbulence is not yet clear. Virtually all the government’s planned tax cuts have been reversed, and the next prime minister—regardless of his or her politics—will have little choice but to pursue a policy of deep spending cuts and strict fiscal discipline. Which, will no doubt, make them fairly unpopular. But hopefully they can outlive something that wilts in direct sunlight.

↦ FYI: These current or former Conservative cabinet members are the likely front-runners to replace Liz Truss.

The Nightmare COVID Variant?

Should we be worried about one or swarms of new variants? Here’s what experts say.

While the United States contends with the newly detected COVID omicron BQ.1 subvariants, another highly mutated strain of the coronavirus called XBB is tearing across Southeast Asia, where in some countries, it has caused the number of cases to double in a day.

Some more sensationalist reports have called XBB a “nightmare variant” due to its apparent ability to evade immunity. But the good news is that the recent reformulated “bivalent” vaccine boosters from Pfizer and Moderna seem to work just fine against XBB, even though the original vaccines are less effective against it.

Medical experts are saying that instead of a single new Greek letter variant, a group of immune-evading omicron spinoffs are popping up and could fuel a winter surge. could fuel a winter surge. With so many strains circulating, even a small advantage could be what drives a subvariant to dominance. “That's why each of these could potentially be the ones that form the new lineage that dominates,” one infectious disease expert told U.S. News & World Report.

“As much as you want to feel good about the fact that cases are down, hospitalizations are down, we don't want to declare victory too prematurely,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS News. “And that's the reason why we've got to keep our eye out on these emerging variants.” And another reminder to keep up on those boosters.

↦ FYI: CDC advisers recommend adding COVID shots to routine immunization schedules for both kids and adults.

A Common Emoji Gets Canceled

Can a thumbs-up emoji just be a thumbs-up?

Another day, another passive aggressive battle in the war of the generations online, right? Am I really insulting my younger co-workers with an upturned digital thumb?

Apparently, many Gen Zers think that the emoji is too confrontational—which is somewhat surprising considering how often we see it used each day on Slack. What about when I “thumbs up” a blue bubble in a text chain?

That we're even pondering such a question highlights the perennial confusion and anxiety over subtext that arises from new and ever-evolving forms of digital communication that often lack the added benefit of intonation, eye contact and body language.

And while some respondents on this Reddit chain were inevitably being tongue-in-cheek, dramatically branding the thumbs up “hostile” or “hurtful,” the writing is on the wall for the emoji, anyway. A recent survey of 2,000 Gen Zers crowned it as being the top emoji that makes users look “officially old.” It was closely followed by the red love heart and the OK hand symbol. But ... the fire is still cool?

A Weekend Pairing

‘My Policeman’ + a English Cider

The long-awaited melodrama My Policeman, has finally come to theaters. If you're waiting for it to stream on Amazon Prime Video (and maybe you should), then you'll need to wait until November 4th. The film tells a decades-long story of a schoolteacher, a museum curator and the cop they both love. Set in 1950s England, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal, it's based on the 2012 Bethan Roberts novel of the same name.

Harry Styles' foray into acting continues with a film that seems tailor-made for prestige awards— fragmented into two time frames, it shows the threesome as young people and then forty years into their future. Everything looks handsome, the midcentury sets, the clothes, and, of course, the three lead actors—but reviewers have said that the film is a little drab and just a bit sad ... and not in the way it means to. As one reviewer put it: “The stately treatment” of the characters plight “leads to a film that buckles under the weight of purgatorial disappointment.” But the AV Club says it's more of a study of repression and restraint that, “yes, happens to feature plenty of nudity from today's most famous male pop star.”

↦ Your Pairing:What to drink with a British film? How about a proper English hard cider? It's seasonal and delicious (plus, it decants nicely for theater-going). This old school maker has been around since 1728 and the Imperial Cider is not the overly sweetened hard ciders made stateside. It's complex with a welcome bitterness. There's a full-bodied apple flavor that's balanced by some raisiny, boozy dark notes as well.

In Other News

↦ The Supreme Court Won’t Block the Student Loan Debt Relief Program, at Least for Now

↦ The Pop-Star Album Rollout Has Returned

↦ How an Invasive Insect Destroyed the Louisville Slugger Forest

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

The enduring appeal of pore strips

Chukka boots

Hero rats

Worry Away

Worriers tend to be more successful problem-solvers and higher performers

Don't picture an elephant. Too late? I figured. Because it's the first thing we do when someone says that. It's similar to when someone tells me not to worry about something. It almost makes me more anxious. If I could change the scene in my brain to a sunny vineyard in Sonoma at will, why on earth would I keep running through potential worst-case scenarios?

After all, life gives us a lot to worry about. Maybe more now than ever. And while there are countless quotes and proverbs discouraging us from worrying, maybe it's not as bad as people like to make it out to be.

If you're a moderate worrier, recent studies have shown that you live longer thanks to an uptake of “health-promoting behaviors,” like getting regular cancer screenings or resolving to kick bad habits like smoking.

We dug into the data and spoke to a few psychologists find out about the pros and cons of worrying. And it turns out, a little worrying can really help you out in all sorts of situations.

↦ Read: Why worrying isn't such a bad thing.

What We’re Buying

A pair of authentic Vans that pays tribute to their original factory in Anaheim, California. There's a reason these are still around today—they're timeless. So snag these while they're on sale.

↦ Get It: $85 / $68 by Vans

Partner

A Classic Nixon Watch Modernizes

Nixon navy Sentry Solar stainless steel watch

Navy Sentry Solar watch with stainless steel tapered bracelet, $300

Nixon’s best-selling Sentry timepiece has just got a modern upgrade with limitless potential. It’s now solar powered. Beneath the semi-transparent dial is a tiny solar cell that will power the timepiece for an entire day just by sitting under your office’s overhead lights for one hour. After six hours of direct sunlight, it absorbs enough power to store up six months worth of charge. As for looks, the new face has an enhanced sunray finish and bright Lum tip skeleton hands. But the durable, water-resistant stainless steel case and reliable Japanese quartz movement with day/date window that makes this such a legendary watch remains.