āU-n-i-t-e-d, United are the team for meā¦ā
A crowd chant that can be heard up in the terraces of many football stadiums here in the UK.
~
A couple of years ago, a friend invited me along to join her at an event at the London HQ for Tortoise Media (isnāt that a great name?).
Positioning themselves as an organisation in support of āslow journalismā, I was intrigued.
It actually took me 3 tried to successfully experience a Tortoise event; not the most exciting story in the world, but the short version is⦠the first event cancelled last minute, the second time I got lost (I was in one of my no-smartphone phases and, as has often been the case without the help of Googlemaps, I got lost going to the venue); at the third time of asking, I made it to a panel event in Manchester with Andy Burnham MP, Mayor of Great Manchester.
Tortoise was, at that time of that Manchester event, known to have been in talks re: a potential takeover/merger; it has now merged with The Observer newspaper.
At the time at which they were running as an independent entity (I have not been following them of late), they were a good example of a crowd-sourced project with high quality, long-form journalism at their core:
Do they carry a bias?
Of course.
Are they invested in certain outside interests?
Unfortunately, with The Observer deal, yes.
Still, I like what they stand for as it pertains to longer- and slower-form journalism.
We really, really need that š¢
Somewhere between bookending by busy commute with free daily newspapers and realising that the ānewsā is quite negative / heavy, that many of CNNās ākey election alertsā during the US election coverage really wasnāt that significant, and generally observing the emotional-levers-slash-click-tactics that news outlets are now resorting to⦠I realised that daily news is a LOT to consume ā and that itās difficult to discern what can be trusted and what is (or isnāt) to quote the US president, āfake newsā.
Whether itās the Pew Research āPolitical Typology Quizā or the UK’s newly-created Common Good one; btw, British folks who are reading this, Iād like to know which one you are. Iām a DD ā and a couple of friends of mine are, too. You?
~
A confession to make hereā¦
I have occupied just about every position there is on the āpolitical spectrumā.
I find this not altogether surprising (the āecho chamberā effect is real, let me tell you ā I believe it goes a long way to explaining why friends and family members in the US have stopped speaking to one another over differences in political opinion ā it still seems maddening to think about thatā¦
Whilst my political identity may have changed (aka: taken time to form more fully), I find it interesting that my Myers-Briggs personality type hasnāt changed at all in the last 15 years. I am, apparently, a solid INFP / mediator personality type.
Whilst we must be careful with labels, in using them to divide us and separate (collectively) and diminish us (individually), the description still describes me pretty accurately.

My forthcoming second book, The INFP Writer Re-framing anxiety and neurodivergence, will talk more about that. Iāll share more with you over the coming weeks.
In other words I am a dreamer, an idealist, who is learning to balance that with a healthy dose of realism.
I am firm in my convictions, yet endlessly curious about the world around me ā and the people in it. I am always learning.
At different times in my life, Iāve considered myself a Republican, a Democrat, a leftist, a conservative, a liberal, etc etc
As polarisation has ramped up, and my curiosity has remained, Iāve found myself sort of⦠middling. Yup, as boring as it sounds, sat on the fence. Or, probably, a little to the right of the fence, depending on who you ask (or the media you consume).
A few years ago, I mightāve been described as a āliberal with some conservative valuesā, and these days Iāve become somewhat⦠āconservative with some liberal valuesā. Quite the almighty leap, eh?
You see, the poles of āleftā and ārightā seem to have moved so far apart that, if I were to read some of what I read online, I might be considered āfar rightā. And, in previous years, āfar leftā.
These labels in and of themselves are as dangerous as they are divisive.
A divided nation, like a divided community, a divided school or a divided household, is an unstable and unhappy one ā one that isnāt rooted in a sense of psychological safety in themselves, and connectedness with the parents, the siblings, the neighbours and the communities around us.
What on earth has happened to ālove thy neighbourā?
In the parts of London Iāve spent time in in the last few weeks (central, west, southwest), Iāve seen people enjoying the sunshine. Being kind to one another on public transport and in public spaces. Being open, a communicative. Increasingly, Iām noticing, talking about feelings.
(This, reflected in the new Jurassic Park film I watched with my dad recently).
Community spirit is there.
Itās only when I open the papers, or switch on the news in the evening, that I am confronted with the sense of fear and dread, of āusā against āthemā.
~
A lifelong conclusion
Following the many, many conversations Iāve had over the years with British folks (Iāve been here my whole life), and Americans too (Iāve spent more than 6 months in the US over various trips, across several states, cities & suburbs ā from New York and San Francisco to rural parts of Wisconsin and Texas), the overwhelming conclusion Iāve come to having been in all of these places is this:
There is more we agree upon ā more that we share in common ā than that which separates us.
Let me tell you, being polarised and divided and emotive against one another, does NOT serve the 99% of us.
This brings me back to the title of this article. It is why Iām opting, instead, for a 7/52 news cycle at best⦠over the 24/7 one.
In other words, more thoughtful and slow consumption of daily and weekly news, rather than constantly trying to take it all in, all at once, interrupting my day.
Iāve realised that constant consumption of news actually skews my perception of reality, of humanity, of truth.
Rather than spend hours cooped up indoors, isolating ourselves from one another ā literally ā by being glued to the internet (the pandemic has contributed significantly to the sense of isolation, fear and divide in the world), I will continue to go out and BE IN the world.
Watch this space.
And hereās to creating more space in our lives. We donāt need any more stress. If anything, we need to lighten our cognitive loads rather than add to it.
A big, collective, mindful pause.
But not a āone and doneā. If I know whatās good for me, this will be āintegrating it into my daily lifeā kind of collective pause.
Hereās to a slower future,
Jazz.
~
iāve been writing on the internet for more than 10 years, iām still figuring things out, but iām choosing to create + consume things, slowly⦠š

š· May 2025: Attending a rodeo with my parents at the Cowtown Coliseum. This photo was taken shortly before the crowd stood, in unison, for the national anthem.