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Oh boy. 2025 was a wild year.

And I’m glad we’ve finally dragged it to the back of the dusty ol’ shed, put it on its knees and given it the Mozambique drill. 3 bangs and its gone.

So what does 2026 have in store for us?

Is it the same “New year, new me” that we see pass into the world every year, only to be given up around 19 days into the new year?

I don’t think so. 2025 was different. It pushed a lot of people beyond their breaking point and in some cases, straight down into rock bottom. Mentally, physically and spiritually we were tested.

But we made it out alive.

So what does this mean?

Those silent goals and transitions we’ve all been making. This year it’s time to be loud about it. It’s time to dial it in and focus, cause change is good and pushing us to the next level of where we want to be, will see us truly succeed.

Some of us have books and stories to write or paintings and art to get out into the world and some of us are just venturing into the creative world, even with AI kicking at the door and wanting to be let in. Yet everyone I know is sticking true to themselves.

And that’s the real beauty of being a human. Write who you are, fuck trends, get weird, and especially this year, fuck the machine.

After a little break to close out the year and also not being sick anymore (Although I haven’t had heating and hot water since the 25th of December lol) I’ve made it out on the other side and I’m ready to kick 2026’s ass.

I’ll be writing and publishing more (Picking up an old pen name again)

I’ll be rejecting clients who have crawled back to me after taking on lesser individuals who made AI their whole personality, only to destroy their reputations…

I’ll be sitting strong on the financial charts (If you’ve seen anything in the news over Gold/Silver and the US Dollar) you know big things are coming economically and financially in 2026.

And I’ll be taking care of my health a little more this year as the last month-ish has just shown how bad it can get. (Although I do have some interesting psychological theories surrounding it too)

Other than that. I’m glad to be back. I’m grateful to still be a live and I’m ready for 2026.

I hope you’ve all been well and are also going make 2026 your bitch.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you have any ideas, goals etc. Let me know. I’m always interested in hearing the story surrounding it.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Little Johnny comes home from school excitedly to finish up for Christmas.

He walks into the kitchen, pacing slowly.

“Mom,” he whispers but you can hear the confusion in his voice.

He sees her sitting there expressionless. He inches closer and waves his little hand in front of her. Not a twitch. Not a blink. Not even a little exhale.

But before he can react. Her head turns and she grabs him by his scrawny little shoulders. A look of horror washes across his face. He can’t do anything to resist.

“Mom?” he says.

“You’ve forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing a text, writing an email, telling a story and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing since the dawn of time…” she says.

“Big Tech is offering you a Faustian bargain. It promises to remove all friction from life, to keep you from having to think or study, and the result is your brain will become pudding, you’ll become incapable of creativity or communication. They want to make you a non-person!” she says. This time more aggressively.

She drops him to the floor and runs out of the front door. Poor little Johnny is trying to process all of the words his mother has just said to him.

Outside there’s a loud crash and people are screaming. A blood curdling shriek echoes back inside of the house.

“I’m sorry Johnny, I didn’t want it to end like this!”

/end

SEE WHAT BIG TECH IS DOING. IT’S DRIVING PEOPLE MAD, INCLUDING ME.

In all honesty though. ‘Tis the season to read books and eat food and snacks and watch real movies (While you still can)

Cause next year is gonna be an absolute clown show. The way things are going to be forced into our lives without any resistance whatsoever will drive you truly bonkers.

Give this to your loved ones and help them prep for 2026. Thank me later.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. By time this lands in your inbox. I would’ve probably been heavily dosed up on lemsip and deep in a coma. So you can thank the medication for my semi-fever-dream type story.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

A last minute decision was made to rest properly.

It’s nearly Christmas and my chest and cough has come back with a full vengeance.

I have a few days to try and get back to normal and it’s the most annoying and frustrating period of sickness I’ve had in years.

So if you’re celebrating Christmas with family, friends and loved ones.

I hope you have an amazing time.

If you’re solo and just cracking on. I hope you have a great rest too.

I appreciate you for sticking around and reading my shenanigans over the last few years of starting up this here lil’ cult.

All your replies, suggestions, stories and ideas have been amazing.

Love you all.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

The best movies were made without it.

The best games were made without it.

The best comics were made without it.

The best stories were made without it.

The best songs were made without it.

And now for some reason we really need it, there’s no other way and if we don’t adopt it and make it our whole personality, we’re gonna die…

Which is something you can notice as the quality of all work being created nosedives.

It’s why art and art prices are surging.

It’s why people are going back and watching “The classics”

It’s also why more and more people are opting back in to books that have landed pre 2020.

The uncanny valley vibe being forced into our faces on a day to day basis, by marketers who believe they’re on the cusp of greatness, while also simultaneously leading a life of delulu (as the kids would say) is starting to hit massive proportions.

The beautiful thing though is that there’s such a massive hatred for this generative AI tech and the companies that are forcing it on us, that you’re seeing it bubble up and watching the rejection push through.

Now there is advantages to AI (Actual artificial intelligence) but the generative AI that most of the tech and marketing bros are on their knees for is starting to reverse on them.

I don’t think anyone would’ve every thought that we’d head down a path, where these tools would slowly strip away the things that we did that makes us truly human. (The arts)

But here we are in this weird timeline where the battle is slowly unravelling.

Every day you log in you, see garbage generated by AI infecting your eyes, while actual creatives are pushing back.

It truly does suck that it’s gotten to that part, although it’s a fight worth fighting for, cause before we know it. We’ll be mindless drones scrolling, drooling and saying “Please sir, may I have some more!”

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

By the time you’re reading this.

I might be laying face down in a ditch somewhere in Manchester…

That being said. It’s that time of the year where I am in charge of adults and making sure they don’t unleash a lot of chaos right before everyone winds down for Christmas.

I’ve learnt a little trick over the years.

You can hypnotise people and bring them under your spell if you take them all out for a meal.

They will hopefully do your bidding, as long as the meal is good.

Not one of those corporate pizza parties from hell.

Just a good meal.

Some good vibes.

And genuine connection with fellow meat puppets after this year has honestly slammed people about mentally, spiritually and physically.

Years ago I would’ve been about the whole hustle culture and just went full on into the new year.

But as you get older and wiser you realise that there’s honestly no need to go absolutely batshit and burn yourself out before the new year starts.

So take it slow. Wrap up any work you need to do and take some TLC time for yourself.

Get a new book or a favourite hot drink, get some new shoes or even cut off people who have made things horrible this last year.

It’s all about going into the new year fresh. With love and with positivity.

I’ll still be sending out emails over the Christmas period, but I’ll probably be in a food coma and they’ll sneak out automatically… (Like this one)

Stephen Walker.

P.S. I know I’ve said in past that I’m not all about the automation life, however a few people have said that I need to stop being full on all the time with the writing. I need to live a little (Go figure lol)

P.P.S This is the greatest Christmas film of all time as it adds a lot of introspection on the times when we’ve wanted to throw in the towel.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I felt like I was dying a few weeks ago.

I had what most people would consider the man flu.

Yes it is bad, was bad and is still (kinda) bad but I’m 99% over it now.

For about a month it felt like my whole body was being folded up like a lawn chair.

As much as I had medicine or pills of any sort. I went to the local GP and he deduced that whatever I had caught was viral and there wasn’t much I could do, except for do things that would soothe my throat and take something for the fever, and my body would sort itself out.

So I did that. I drank the gross drinks, I took a few painkillers and nothing. I mean it worked a little but I was still tossing and turning and waking up in the middle of the night, sounding as if I was going to hurl a piece of lung from my chest cavity…

So I did what everyone usually does when they want to make money online…

They go onto google and type “how to make money online!” except this time it wasn’t money it was:

“Please lord how do I stop my throat from feeling like I’ve deep throated a razor blade…”

Low and behold. A crusty old forum which I’ve visited years and years ago, popped up and recommended coconut oil.

Cold pressed, organic coconut oil.

The idea was to take a teaspoon and melt it in your mouth, followed by gargling on it.

(It was gross and okay ladies now I understand…)

But within 10-15 mins. The throat burn was gone and whatever magic it did, it some how managed to take a whole bunch of the gross gunk (I’ll leave out the visceral details) and it made it easier to just cough up this ball of nastiness.

It felt like a snotty exorcism and I felt good.

Who would’ve thought that good old coconut oil would do the trick.

Sore throat, flu-like symptoms, viral tonsilitis or whatever it was that I had…

Poof. Gone within a few minutes.

Obviously I’m going to keep going with this until it clears up, but let me tell you one thing…

These old granny remedies or wives tales. They seem to work like some voodoo black magick.

This is also just my anecdotal experience and shouldn’t be taken as gospel medical advice, but it’s worth looking into if you ever get stuck feeling like you want to rip your throat out.

If you wanna try out some natural remedies, this place should be your go to guide.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

You want to support the writer in your life?

Great.

Here’s how…

Grab a stake and drive it straight through the heart of the digital vampire currently draining the life out of all of us.

I’m talking about Generative AI.

That soulless content abomination sucking up our creative work like some kind of algorithmic Dyson, hoovering up everything we’ve ever written, painted, composed, or created, then regurgitating it back into the world as flavourless gruel. [Insert “PLEASE SIR, I WANT SOME MORE,” gif]

Here’s what you can do starting now.

Stop posting AI slop.

Just don’t.

Don’t share it, don’t create it, don’t accidentally make it part of your aesthetic because you thought that weird image looked “kinda cool.”

Stop reposting sketchy shit.

If a photo or news story doesn’t pass the smell test. Put it in the bin.

If there’s no reputable link backing it up, leave it alone.

You’re not helping. You’re just feeding the misinformation beast while it wears our collective faces as a mask.

Stop actively using AI anything.

No Sora garbage. No ChatGPT “just to brainstorm.” No Midjourney because you “can’t draw.” None of it.

And for fuck’s sake, stop playing Devil’s Advocate about it like some smug philosophy freshman who just discovered debate club.

Just get on board the FUCK AI train.

Say it loud. Say it with your whole chest.

Tell everyone that AI sucks.

Not just because it’s creatively bankrupt, but because it literally sucks.

It siphons our work, our effort, our entire information environment (and our actual environment, because those server farms guzzle power like it’s going out of style), then files the serial numbers off our art and shoves it back into the world with all the soul scraped out.

There’s no mechanism for any of this to help us pay rent. Or buy groceries. Or afford healthcare.

It’s an artbarf machine.

A content slurry factory puking low value nonsense into the open mouths of people who want to cosplay as creators without doing any of that pesky work.

They ingest the vomit, puke it onto the floor, clap their shitty little hands and go, “Look! I made art!”

It’s horrifying.

Why would you like this? Why would you defend it?

It’s the idolisation of the idea paired with the demonisation of both the creator and the creation.

It ruins us.

So you need to fly that flag. Loud and proud.

HATER-OF-AI.

Wear it like a badge.

If you love the writers, artists, musicians, and creators in your life, if you actually give a damn about what they do, that’s what you’ll do.

You won’t fight us on this.

You’ll just trust.

Stephen Walker.

Also watch this cause it all makes sense…

P.S. The best gift you can give a writer is telling AI to go fuck itself. Everything else is just wrapping paper.

P.P.S. artbarf is my favourite word.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

The world is on fire even more now and I’m so tired of pretending everything’s fine.



It’s like we just can’t catch a break this year. Things go from bad to worse to Worcestershire sauce levels of unpronounceable disaster and back again.



Every time you think we’ve hit rock bottom, someone hands us a shovel and points downward.



Atrocities in America. Atrocities in Australia. Atrocities everywhere you look, because apparently the human race has no upper limit to the amount of bullshit we can inflict on each other and ourselves.



I don’t even know how to cure all of this. I’m not smart enough to solve global suffering or wise enough to explain why people keep choosing cruelty when kindness is right there, free of charge.



The news cycle is a relentless machine designed to make you feel helpless and angry and overwhelmed.



Every notification is another reason to lose faith in humanity.



Every headline is a reminder that the world is broken and getting more broken by the day.



And as much as I want to throw in the towel. Well, we just have to keep going.



So hug your loved ones close. Make art that matters. Be the light in a world that desperately needs more of it. Create something beautiful in the face of all this ugliness.



This place is exhausting sometimes. It’s okay to admit that. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed by the sheer weight of everything wrong with the world.



Just don’t let it paralyse you. Don’t let the darkness convince you that your small acts of love and creativity don’t matter.



They do. Especially now.



Time to turn off the internet for a bit and come back when things aren’t running out of control.



Stephen Walker.




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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Remember when we used to mock those ridiculous Facebook posts?

“If you were a bread, what bread would you be?” or “Comment your birthday month and I’ll tell you which Disney princess you are!”

We’d roll our eyes at the obvious engagement bait.

We knew it was stupid.

We knew it was manipulative.

And yet… people ate that shit up like free pizza at a college party.

Those posts worked because they tapped into something fundamental…

Our desperate need to be entertained and our even more desperate need to talk about ourselves.

The “free iPhone” scams were even more brilliant in their evil simplicity.

“We have 1000s of unboxed iPhones with little dents, so we can’t sell them, might as well give them away! Just like and share!”

Pure engagement farming that got pages to millions of followers before flipping them to sell random dropshipped garbage.

It was all powered by our basic human psychology…

We want to be entertained, we want free stuff, and we want to feel special and the list goes on and on.

Those tactics worked. They just happened to be wielded by scumbags who turned engagement into empty manipulation instead of genuine connection. (Which is ironically the one thing that is lacking so much now, cause people just want to punt their warez)

But what if we used those same psychological triggers for good?

What if we created content that was genuinely engaging without being of the super cheese variety?

Opinion Traps are fun to play with. They work well on Twitter and I see them popping up on FB lately too.

Instead of “What bread are you?” try “Hot take: People who put pineapple on pizza have better taste than people who refuse to try new things. Change my mind.” (Funny thing is. You’ll get the moral high ground police that’ll comment “WELL IT’S NOT A HOT TAKE IF YOU SAID IT’S A HOT TAKE” No shit sherlock, but it got you to engage didn’t it?)

You’re still asking for engagement, but you’re sparking actual conversation about something people have real opinions about.

Plus, you’re subtly positioning yourself as someone who thinks outside conventional wisdom, cause you’re willing to mix it up.

Another one to use is an Experience Exchange

Instead of fake giveaways, try “I’m collecting stories about the worst business advice anyone’s ever given you. I’ll share the best ones (anonymously) in next week’s roundup.”

You’re getting engagement, gathering content for future emails, and creating genuine value by crowdsourcing useful information, plus the fact that you’re allowing people to send you things shows that you genuinely value their opinions etc.

The last one is a Vulnerability Hook

Instead of arbitrary personality tests, try “I spent $10K on a business coach who told me to ‘just believe in myself harder.’ What’s the most expensive lesson you’ve learned the hard way?”

You’re sharing something real about yourself while inviting others to do the same. Natural engagement and not just baiting for clicks.

And as much as I want to slap Gary Vee because of some of his takes. When he said that he attention economy isn’t going anywhere, he was right.

We can either master it ethically or watch the cheesy engagement farmers continue to win by default.

And if you’ve been building your audience properly. You’ll know that they’re smart enough to see through bullshit.

So you might as well them something worth engaging with.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. These were just vague examples but I’m sure you got the gist of it. Whatever niche you’re in. I’m sure you’ve seen the outlandish stuff that passes as content, so at least wrap it in something that makes sense and is a net positive for engagement.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Now apparently this is true and even if not. It’s hilarious.

Sometimes the universe presents you with an opportunity to be absolutely, magnificently petty.

And when that moment comes, you have two choices…

Take the high road like a boring adult, or embrace your inner petty demon and create a masterpiece of justified spite.

50 Cent chose option two, and it’s fucking beautiful.

Here’s the quick TL;DR version…

Teairra Mari owed 50 Cent about $30K from some legal bullshit. Instead of just paying up like a normal person, she decided to drop a diss track called “I Ain’t Got It” which basically turning her debt into some weird flex or whatever.

Now, most people would’ve just rolled their eyes and called their lawyers.

Maybe written an angry Instagram post.

But 50? Nah.

50 saw this disrespect and said “hold my champagne.”

He trademarked the phrase “I Ain’t Got It.”

Then he bought the domain name.

Basically ensuring that if Teairra Mari wanted to make any money off her own diss track, she’d have to pay him for the privilege.

Imagine taking someone’s attempted clap-back and turning it into passive income?

The sheer audacity of it is chef’s kiss perfect.

Now I’d imagine every time someone searches for “I Ain’t Got It,” every time someone wants to use that phrase commercially, every time that song gets mentioned our boy 50 cent will win.

Entrepreneurial pettiness should be a whole niche in itself.

The new business model? Disrespect.

Sometimes you can’t take the high road. Sometimes people push you to a point where being the bigger person feels like letting them get away with bullshit.

Sometimes you have to show people that fucking with you comes with consequences they didn’t anticipate.

50 Cent understood the assignment and got paid for it…

Although it is the internet, this could be half true, but it was hilariously entertaining for me to look up on the old Twitter.

Now I need to look for my Grinch-like moment to be petty before the year ends.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Tonight’s agenda though. A bit of fibonnaci study, food and this film, unless I pass out…

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom