From the Editor: Tuesday 17th January

This Tuesday I will be giving blood and I’m sort of looking forward to it. In fair weather it can be a nice stroll to a fine view, combined with a nice, unearned, smug sense of easy altruism. Back when I was a lad in Eastbourne I rounded up a group of boys to give blood and it was surprisingly sociable and memorable. We bumped into our old headmaster because Eastbourne is that bump-into-someone-you-know kind of place. One person calmly fainted in the chair, which we supported him through (nice people that we were rather than the stereotypical loud, selfish pissants normally associated with the lad moniker).

We used the excursion as an alternative form of pre-drinking, reducing the amount we would have to drink later in town and thereby saving us money, while also sticking two fingers up to the establishment who said that we shouldn’t be drinking after giving blood. You have to get your kicks somehow in a small town.

Regardless of an individual’s reason for going however, giving blood seems like a good thing to do and one that is pretty straightforward for a lot of people. Brighton has a pretty competitive blood market so you have to book quite far in advance but it’s worth doing, both because you might help save someone’s life or so you can do something different, get free food, catch up with friends: the possibilities are endless.

New this week, we have a brand new columnist in Gogglebox star Louis Michael. We’re very excited about having him on board and he’s been a pleasure to work with. The cover image was taken by his cousin Cass and we’ve also covered his sister Alex’s charity comedy evening before, so the Michaels are certainly a potent and talented family unit. I look forward to reading Louis’ column every week.

Joe Fuller
editorial@thelatest.co.uk