MERIDYTH: Happy New Year to our Squabble readers!!! 🥳 🎉 So now that today is the 6th day of 2025, when should we stop wishing people a happy new year?

ALISTER: You’ve got the 1st week in Jan to get it out of your system. I won’t say it past the second week and only then, as an automatic response — similar to “sorry” when someone pushes past you.

MERIDYTH: But it’s a lovely greeting to kickstart the new year on a warm note with friends, family, and co-workers. And since there’s no way you’re going to see everyone within the first week, I think you’re allowed until the end of the month. Don’t be such a New Year’s Grinch!

ALISTER: Everyone saying “Happy New Year” like an enthusiastic parrot to whomever they can make eye contact isn’t my idea of being friendly. I don’t plan on spending 31 days reminding people the year has changed. Regardless, I’ve already wished you a Happy New Year, so I’m up to date on my “warm note” list. 🦜 

ALISTER: A new border security bill is being planned, which aims to reduce the number of illegal migrants arriving by boat. The most radical amendment — anyone suspected of trafficking will have their phones and laptops taken, social media blocked, and travels restricted.

MERIDYTH: Come on. With crypto and burner phones, can this really work? I’m dubious. Either way, I understand illegal immigration is an issue, but to put blanket restrictions on a suspect before they’ve been convicted of the crime, let alone arrested for it, seems a bit extreme.

ALISTER: Stop your spiralling. It’s an upgrade on the existing Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO). These new interim orders will allow border security to act more quickly in limiting suspected criminals’ activities. The change is to treat illegal immigration the same way we treat human trafficking when issuing the order. If you break the SCPO, it’s a 5-year prison sentence just for that!

MERIDYTH: It still doesn’t sit entirely right with me, but I don’t know of an alternative solution. I foresee cases of mistaken identity (like this guy, who was arrested at the airport), racial profiling, and perhaps abuses of power. But fine, we’ll see what happens… 🤨

🇬🇧 No squabble required

🎸 Neil Young has pulled out of Glastonbury calling it “under corporate control”, referring to BBC’s mgmt of the festival. Only Rod Stewart is in the "legends slot” now, which seems to be the one excuse left to convince your parents to take you.

🏤 Banking on the mail. A Post Office partnership with ~30 banks to deliver banking services (an essential for many local communities) is up for renewal. The financially distraught Post Office has proposed increasing costs to the banks from £250m to over £350m. Fingers crossed it gets sorted amicably! 🤞🏼

👑 No more baby lords. The House of Lords has 92 seats that can be occupied by male heirs from specific families. But, the current government has reiterated its promise to end this antiquated practice and remove all hereditary peers.

💰 Businesses under assault. Robberies (like burglaries, but with force and threats) against businesses reached new highs in 2024 to over 12,000, a 52% increase vs 2023! Shoplifting has also risen to 444k last year vs 324k the year before.

🌎️ The rest of the world… according to us

🇺🇸 Rough start to 2025. On NYE, a car ploughed through crowds killing 15 in New Orleans, while a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside Trump Tower in Las Vegas. While the New Orleans incident is being considered a lone act of terror, the unrelated Tesla driver turned out to be a former soldier suffering from PTSD, who committed suicide.

🇰🇷 Fatal crash in South Korea. On the heels of political unrest, 179 people died when a Jeju Air flight crash landed at Muan Airport. The police have since conducted raids on both the airport and airline, investigating potential death by negligence. They’ve also banned the airline’s CEO from leaving the country.

🇩🇪 Firework bombs? Five people were accidentally killed by NYE fireworks in Germany. The illegal and homemade “firework bombs,” which combine banned foreign fireworks with home supplies, have also injured 17 others in Berlin.

⛽️ No more cheap gas. Ukraine has cut off the Russian gas pipe running across their country, which limits Russia from earning billions from the EU. No worries for the EU, who had already anticipated the end of the 5yr deal.

🍎 Healthier habits, happier you

🐦️ It’s baaaaack. It’s not just the four viruses running amok this winter. Bird flu is back. An East Yorkshire chicken farm has culled their birds to stop the spread, while other farms have also reported outbreaks. While bird to human transmission is rare, should it cross over to humans, the mortality rate is 50%. 😬

🍷 Glass of wine? Pass. Another year, another Dry January as we attempt to repair livers and recall the blurry Christmas season past. A whopping 50% are expected to participate (maybe not the duration 😜), with many using the Dry January calculator for encouragement.

🍷 One cheeky glass is okay, right? While we know binge drinking is bad, moderate drinking was thought to have some benefits… until now. In re-reviewing over 100 studies on moderate consumption, it’s been found that risks are small, but health benefits are nil.

🧦 The odd sock

🦕 Big shoes to fill. The biggest dinosaur footprints ever found in the UK have been discovered in Oxfordshire. The 166 million years old prints are believed to belong to a Cetiosaurus and Megalosaurus.

🍼 Are you a Beta? The new year has brought a new generation — Gen Beta (born between 2025 and 2039). Gen Alpha are considered the “iPad Kids.“ But with Gen Z as parents, who are already pulling away from some tech, Gen Beta may grow up with far less screen time.

👑 As if you didn’t follow enough people. Wife of “Spare” famed author (which was ghost-written), Meghan Markle has re-entered life on Instagram (@meghan) in the new year, while also promoting her new Netflix show, “With love, Meghan.” Anglophiles and royal family stalkers rejoice! (Alister: 🙄) 

⭐️ Recommendations by Alister

Blood, violence, and ddakji? Squid Game season 2 is out. The South Korean hit just keeps breaking Netflix records, and for good reason!

The concept is straight forward. In case you haven’t seen the first season, which was also excellent, people down on their luck and in debt play schoolyard games to win a prize pot of roughly £25 million. However, if you lose a game, you die. 😵

The new season leans into the contestants’ gripping personal stories with family members, partners, and others shunned by society trying to make a new start.

It’s a compelling, tense, action filled adventure focused on human greed. How much blood would you spill to be set for life?

🤣 What do you meme? 

In Person Fireworks

If you’ve considered seeing London’s NYE fireworks display in person, then don’t bother.

With some strong language and stronger opinions — on expensive tickets, long queues for food and loos, disappointing vantage points — this may inform how excited you are to attend next year.

alexdodman

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I think I’ll keep with my tradition of watching it from home, thanks!

Whew, you made it!

Only six more days until “quitters day”, when you are most likely to give up your New Year resolutions. Let’s hope you still join us again next week for another squabble!

Alister & Meridyth