The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

In which I reflect on the death of the Queen... Queen Elizabeth II died this week. In principle, I would say that I am not in favour of a monarchy. It's archaic, a waste of taxpayer's money and tied in with centuries of bloodshed. I've never had much of a strong feeling about this though and I think that's mainly because the Queen was just so fantastic at her job.  It says a lot that just days before she died Her Majesty met new Prime Minister Liz Truss. Truss was, just, the fifteenth Prime Minister of the Queen's reign- she started with Churchill, Eden and Macmillan and ended with May, Johnson and Truss; it's difficult not to think that the standard of PM has declined significantly during her reign. The point is though the Queen was so dedicated to her role even in her later life when I suspect most people would have grown tired of saying "and what do you do?" and being part of the same ceremonies year after year. The moment where I really thought ...

In which I discuss a new green goal... Last week I talked about my turning vegetarian. A week on and it seems to be going well. Physically I actually seem to be feeling better than I have for a long time. This may be because I am eating more healthily in general but the most significant change has been cutting out meat and it seems to be doing me wonders.  Becoming a vegetarian is actually just part of my plans to be more eco-conscious. As I have said, I probably already do a lot more than most people but I'm still being much more wasteful than I could and probably should be. I have therefore set myself the goal of getting as close to producing zero waste as possible. The idea is to get to a point where my rubbish bin is empty and I don't send anything to landfill. In all likelihood there will probably always be some rubbish but I am pretty sure I can reduce it significantly. Since living in my flat I generally fill my wheelie bin about three quarters full by the time it is emp...