No worries - it’s not the end of the world and I only drink soda as a treat anyway. Coca-Cola is still the same, and there’s carbonated apple drinks that are ok. I usually just stick to fruit juice with soda myself.

Don’t feel stupid - you’re in the majority.

Here in the UK they’ve reformulated almost all soda to include Aspartame or Acuflame K.

The vast majority don’t give a fuck, as they taste the same as before.

It’s only people like me who, through a hilarious quirk of genetics, actually taste some sweetners as bitter and unpleasant, that are effected.

For a small (but significant when you scale it up) percentage of the population, these drinks have been entirely ruined and rendered basically undrinkable.

Even my ‘national drink’ Irn-Bru has been wrecked.

It’s kinda funny as most people I meet don’t taste it at all and probably think I’m being weird about it or that I’m making some sort of moral stance against sweetners. But it’s genuinely not that. It’s just that all the soda I liked has been replaced with weird tasting garbage.

The concept of “our” land is sadly outdated. As Chomsky said : “The fundamental role of the government is to protect property from the majority, and so it remains”.

(BTW, I’m not as well read as my quote might imply - I first heard it on a Manic Street Preachers track, but it struck home!)

It’s actually still around in a weaker ‘original’ flavour that has all the sugar but is less fizzy and has no caffeine. It costs more and you don’t get the buzz, but it’s drinkable.

I’m essentially a socialist and believe in taxation and public health

However, what I despise about the Sugar Tax in the UK is that the drinks companies used it as an excuse to reformulate the vast majority of soft drinks, swapping sugar for Acuflame K and aspartame.

A small percentage of the population (but a significant number of people) taste these sweetners as bitter.

I am one of them. Basically all soda that’s been reformulated is undrinkable now to me. I’d describe the taste as a sort of soapy, chemical flavour that’s extremely bitter and artificial.

They even wrecked my national drink Irn Bru, which is basically the worst thing to happen to Scotland since Thatcher!

Only a handful of drinkable beverages remain. Coca-Cola refused to reformulate (likely a hangover from their 80s PR disaster), and you can get a few imported drinks at specialist stores at a premium price.

Unfortunately the majority of folk can’t taste the difference so we are where we are. I guarantee you, if everyone tasted this shit like we do the sales would plummet.

Forty was fine. I didn’t feel old at all and was in a decent place mentally. I’m now 49, and I have a feeling 50 is going to be somewhat jarring. It just feels undeniably mature.

‘Reality hits you hard, bro’

That part of my brain that protects me from thinking about where my sausages come from does not like this.

“At least the batteries won’t just randomly explode” (half the comments on my hometown’s FB page whenever anyone mentions EVs)

Hey, be good if we wreck all this, which belongs to us all by birthright, so the ultra-rich could get to one of them and build a massive slave colony, with a green house exclusively for themselves to masterbate in, while we fight over oxygen, right?

Again, division of labour. It varies depending on when or by whom we’re attacked, but generally I have a baseball bat and she wields an enchanted sword.

I do all the laundry, clean the kitchen and empty/fill the dishwasher. I’ve got a bit of a routine and it works. She cooks and does the bathrooms. Division of labour is the key. Took us a few years and many arguments to settle into our lanes and now it’s fine.

Wow. I’m sure plenty of folk here are high-fiving this guy for what they strangely perceive as just a dude living his best life, but personally I think that’s selfish AF.

I hear you, but other than the occasional odd-ball bandying around terms like “the straights”, there’s definitely worse places.

She’s a billionaire. I doubt she even cares, but who knows. I think there’s more a psychological thing at play here. It’s clear a lot of people loved her work and feel hurt and betrayed that she became who she is. If she was just some other billionaire that was vocally anti-trans it wouldn’t be so painful. As a ‘cis male’ who was never into her books I can’t really relate, but there’ a clearly a large community of former fans who it has affected.

What do you mean by “her media”? If you mean HP stuff, then just torrent it or whatever. Plenty of ways to circumvent her getting royalties.

If someone desperately needs to have branded HP merch, despite the key person behind it all being anathema to their values, then maybe they should pause for thought.

She’s basically Hitler to you guys. Which is fine, and i get why you hate her. But to me, the part I struggle with is why you all loved her stuff in the first place.

I can smell that leather jacket in my mind.

That’s worrying - I use split tunnelling on the express VPN and haven’t seen an add in months.

ahem VPN Albania. Sorted.