Author: adambowie

  • The Festive 500 and the Cycling and Running Year Just Gone

    The Festive 500 and the Cycling and Running Year Just Gone

    In recent years, the Festive 500 seems to have become a little divisive. Sponsored by cycle clothing company Rapha, the Festive 500 is a challenge, largely undertaken using Strava, for cyclists to complete a total of 500km of riding between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. That’s eight days to ride an average of 62.5km…

  • The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

    The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

    I’m not quite sure why I’ve not read one Janice Hallett’s books yet. Her 2021 book, The Appeal won lots of awards, and then her follow-up The Twyford Code won more. She’s also since published The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. And now comes, The Christmas Appeal hot on its heels. This short book…

  • Number Go Up by Zeke Faux

    Number Go Up by Zeke Faux

    Earlier in the autumn, there were two major new books (well at least two) examining to a greater of lesser extent, the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, who was to end up being found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. One was Going Infinite by Michael Lewis. I tend to love Lewis’ books, as…

  • Boxing Day TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    The last of these this year, and the Festive choices continue. Not everything big has started airing yet, with more dramas lined up for later in the week and, in particular, New Year’s Day. But here is my final guide of the year! As ever, click through for larger versions, and don’t forget that a…

  • Christmas Day TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    Christmas Day TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    Merry Christmas! Here’s the next of this year’s three-day bonanza of annotated Radio Times pages. You obviously could be streaming Rebel Moon on Netflix, but honestly, I’m not sure I’d bother. Reacher on Prime is better, but not as good as the first season. And my family don’t seem to be super-keen to watch either…

  • Christmas Eve TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    Christmas Eve TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    It’s that time of year again, when I publish a few annotated pages from the Radio Times, with a few highlights – and lowlights – marked up for your delictation. Obviously, in a streaming world, everything is available all the time, making scheduling almost redundant. And we’re not in any way limited to the linear…

  • To The Dogs by Louise Welsh

    To The Dogs by Louise Welsh

    Louise Welsh has a way of presenting a slightly seedier side of life, and To The Dogs is no different. Taking place in a world of higher education, our protagonist Jim Brennan is doing well. A high achiever in terms of bringing in money to the university, his career looks to be heading from strength…

  • Polite Message to The New York Times: No, I Don’t Want To Upgrade

    Polite Message to The New York Times: No, I Don’t Want To Upgrade

    I’m a paid subscriber to digital version of The New York Times. My monthly bill is £8.50 a month which is not insignificant. And The New York Times has been doing very well with subscriptions of late. It recently reported having over 10 million subscribers! But like any subscription scheme, they’re very keen that I…

  • Premier League Rights 2025/26 – 2028/29 UK TV Deal

    Premier League Rights 2025/26 – 2028/29 UK TV Deal

    This evening, the first games in Amazon’s deal for TV rights to two rounds of the Premier League get underway. But Amazon’s coverage ends after next season’s Festive period games, because from the 2025/26 season, they will no longer have live rights. Amazon, you will recall, have the rights to a midweek round of games…

  • Most Popular Apple (& Spotify) Podcasts of 2023

    Most Popular Apple (& Spotify) Podcasts of 2023

    Updated to include Spotify’s Top Podcasts. See below. It may only be 28th November, but Apple is trying to get ahead of other streaming music and audio services by publishing its year-end round ups early. And today they’ve announced the Most Popular Podcasts of 2023… at least amongst listeners who use the Apple Podcasts app.…

  • RAJAR Audio MIDAS Research – Autumn 2023

    RAJAR Audio MIDAS Research – Autumn 2023

    RAJAR released its latest MIDAS research report at the end of last week, and it’s always worth examining. A reminder that MIDAS recontacts 2,410 previous RAJAR survey listeners to dive deeper into how they listen to digital audio. RAJAR publishes a summary report on its website, although subscribers get more detailed access to the data.…

  • GCN+ Closing Down

    GCN+ Closing Down

    There was some sad news on Wednesday, when Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced that GCN+ will be closing down in December this year. Unfortunately, it perhaps wasn’t surprising news set against a plurality of WBD sports brands and a massive need for WBD to cut costs throughout its business to service an enormous debt load.…