Adrian Chiles, my sweet prince!

Monday reading #17

Monday Reading is my weekly recommendation of something I’ve found thought-provoking or fascinating. Sometimes it is about something I have read. Sometimes it is about television or food or music or projects I care about supporting. Sometimes I do not send it on Monday. Please share with anyone who might like the vibes!!

My love for Guardian columnist Adrian Chiles is actually completely unrelated to my (annoying) love of British television; it’s instead one of the few gifts I’ve gotten from being Extremely Online. Chiles is, I guess, a television presenter—that seems to be a career in Britain in a way I’m not entirely sure I understand—and for several years now has also written this column for the Guardian, which is both gently daffy and incredibly pure. Each is quite short—about 350 words—and usually concerns some frustrating aspect of modern life. He’s like Andy Rooney, but British and not dyspeptic. He is married to his editor, but they got together after he started writing this silly-billy column. I think that’s nice.

The columns are sometimes more reasonable than the headline suggests; other times, he writes things that are poignant (on his Yugoslavian grandmother) and important (on ADHD; on drinking). But what is the fun in that for a newsletter? I’ve rounded up a selection of Chiles headlines for your pleasure.

Sometimes his columns are tales of a simple man trying his best in a difficult world:

Life is a constant battle for Chiles, just constant:

Once in a while he goes to the fucking barricades, typically on behalf of English values:

There’s also a whole subset of columns about the indignities of grocery shopping:

I’m going to call this one grocery-adjacent.

But sometimes one simply has to wonder what planet he is living on:

Hope you enjoy many hours reading through his incredibly body of work.

See you soon!