Dec 2025

Gita Blaze - The Absolutely Baltic Comedy story 

What do you do when life brings you a new beginning in the funniest city in the world? Of course – become a stand-up comedian!

I still wonder how this happened to me. A Latvian who never been to a stand-up comedy show, couldn’t even recognize world-famous comedians and would never dream to be on the stage with a microphone in hand.

But – I always have loved laughter and always tried to look for the funny side of everything. I was a journalist in Latvia for all my life and loved to tell stories, however I had been told not to look so much on the humorous side. The Baltic people are serious, and I was so surprised when I moved to Scotland. I had a feeling – everyone is joking, laughing and nobody takes themselves too seriously. I felt I may fit in well here. My language was limited, and I was hoping to learn proper English in Glasgow.

To explore more of Scotland, I joined a Meetup group and, on the trip, met a man who had worked as a TV producer. He seemed very impressed by my stories and jokes and advised me to try Stand-up comedy. Not only advised – he encouraged me to attend a Viv Gee stand-up comedy course. My first ever comedy performance was with our comedy class. There were many people from my Meetup group in the public supporting me and for the first time I experienced how comedy brings people together. And it was such a great experience with my opening Baltic joke there – everyone just burst out laughing; I remember how much I was surprised when a wave of laughter hit me for the first time. I can’t even remember how I got home after the show, the only thing I remember is somebody shouting outside of the venue: “Baltic, Baltic!” while laughing.

My first open spot at a professional comedy show was at the Rotunda Comedy club with Raymond Mearns, Gary Little and Jay Lafferty. I didn’t know them and felt confident enough to do my Baltic jokes again. A total beginner together with the Scottish comedy grands! But the public laughed again and Raymond Mearns very kindly told me – I will be like him after 10 years. That was great. I am nearly halfway now after my three years!

I met so many funny comedians on my three-year comedy journey. And even if we are from different backgrounds and cultures, I still feel close to the people who like to laugh and value the funny side of life. I feel welcomed at the comedy circuit and Glasgow feels more like a home to me since I have started stand-up comedy. I have been at many interesting venues with comedy shows not only in Glasgow but all-around Scotland.

My biggest stand-up adventure so far has been an opener role at Mark Black’s show at the Pavilion theatre. And it led to the role in Paul Black’s comedy film “Govan Queen” this year. As a little girl I dreamed to be an actress and some 50 years after – that dream finally became true.

At the comedy class I met a Welsh comedian, Thomas Craven, and we became good friends. We did a split show at the Glasgow Comedy Festival and Thomas not only encouraged me to do my solo show next year but also created a stunning poster for it.

My first solo show “Absolutely Baltic” will be at “Blackfriars” on 15th March. I would like to make my Glasgow Comedy Festival show a celebration of life, friendship and adventures. Life is so unpredictable, interesting and… a beautiful privilege. Let’s celebrate it together with some great laughter!  

Harun Musho’d December 2025  

​Harun Musho’d is an English comedian who moved to live in Scotland in 2023. He is an HR Consultant with the civil service after moving on from an extensive career in the civil service in Westminster. Harun started performing stand-up comedy in 2013 while a mature student. He later ran and compered The Happy Hour Comedy Club in London and has just revived that as a new venture in Scotland.

​Starting out

​Harun’s interest in comedy has been long standing after wanting at first to write comic fiction novels and short stories. In 2010 while still working in Parliament he realised if he wanted to become a writer, he had a gap in his education. He enrolled in university (Royal Holloway University of London – but it’s nowhere near Holloway nor London) to study creative writing as a mature student. At university he joined their Stand-Up Comedy Society and that by leaning into the Society he “accidentally fell into stand-up.”

Harun uses his experiences of his career in Parliament as the frame for his material where he combines political events with his own family background including multiple ethnicities, religions and fluid morality offering a brand of sharp, dark comedy.

Politics has also been a driving force in him moving to Scotland because he and his wife wanted to live somewhere that may, one day, re-join the EU and felt Scotland had a better standard of politics than UK. He is a Labour Party member but one who supports Scottish independence. He admits to being a bitter EU Referendum Remainer., but he is not a bitter man – he had an IPA when we met! (Sorry).

​Magic with jokes

​Harun says he gained his comedy performance skills from his peers in the Comedy Society and the fact that the comedy writing techniques in his course leant well into writing stand up. He writes every day and can easily find comedy angles in situations or first-hand experiences and uses these to develop his jokes into “long torturous routines.”

His early sets involved a family member who got into Take A Break magazine, or how his local bus garage is the source of all the worlds evil taking the situation from one point to evermore extreme and ridiculous circumstances. He likes is to conjure up connections and bring them back to his crucial point with a bit of enchantment and “create magic with jokes.”

​Performer to MC and Solo Shows

​From performing he started to run his own comedy night and thus created the Happy Hour Comedy Club. He is comfortable as MC and describes his on-stage persona as drier, more cynical and darker than his usual personality. His two solo shows “Why I Don’t Talk to People About Terrorism” and “A History of The Conservative Party in their Own Stupid Words” provided him with a difference in performance style; one using his persona and the other allowing to be himself to allow for audience interaction.

Harun is also the co-chair with Chris O’Neill on the comedy panel show Political Breakfast/Brunch. Chris created the show and devises the format for each run., while Harun does “the other organising”. Political Breakfast will be back for the Glasgow Comedy Festival in 2026.

​Influences and emulating

​Harun admits Stewart Lee is his main influence and sometimes emulates him by way of his style. He loves James Acaster but feels he couldn't replicate what he does, while Dara O Brian’s “friendly crowd work” earns his admiration. Although Harun enjoys watching comedians like Freddy Starr and Michael McIntyre for their physicality, he isn’t always a fan of their humour.

Outside of comedy, films make Harun laugh – including Groundhog Day as he loves the clever writing of the film. He is still a fan of Monty Python, the works of Spike Milligan and especially loves earlier volumes of his War Memoirs.

Harun shared a funny story of one of the reasons he joined the Civil Service after watching “Yes Minister.” While he was working with a senior Policy Manager who asked Harun for another way to say “In due course” thinking of Yes Minister Harun mischievously proffered “in the fullness of time” but then prevented the Manager from using it, for obvious reasons.

​Comedy Ambitions

​Harun recognises that there is still much to accomplish to achieve his aspirations in comedy. He is determined to tour a show, secure headline spots, and actively promote his new comedy venture. Harun understands that establishing a strong reputation at Festivals and Fringe events is crucial for developing his personal brand and achieving greater recognition and fame within the industry.

​Happy Hour Comedy Club

​A passion project currently taking shape is his new venture the “Happy Hour Comedy Club” which he had in London, so he is keen on promoting that at present with gigs booked in for 2026. He is keen to shake up the lazy idea of the diversity booking or token act (female middle in the middle anyone?) which is a bugbear of his.

By offering a diverse line up it is based on merit, or talent not because of filling a bill. He wants to offer semi-professionals a platform for progression. To support his night, keep an eye out on his Facebook page for upcoming info on this new night.

​Food or Travel? & Christmas…

​Finally, I ask Harun to reflect on which image he prefers and why.

He chose food because cooking is his passion, but then shifts focus to travel, mentioning that he increasingly avoids certain countries due to strong moral concerns. Countries Harun will not visit include:

• Thirteen countries whose governments still carry death sentences for those practicing atheism.

• The USA

• Turkey – because of its illegal regime and he will not go where gay people cannot express their identity or be able to hold hands in public.

Harun fears he may never travel out of Scotland again.

​Christmas

​Harun has a birthday just three days before Christmas. This year he will be spending Christmas Day with his wife Clare with roast beef for him and nut roast for his wife. New Year is pizza, champagne and “winging at some of the shite” on Jools Holland New Year Hootenanny. Sounds like a most wonderful time of the year.

I'm grateful to Harun and all those who have consented to participate in interviews with me in 2025. Stay tuned for more updates in 2026, and feel free to reach out if you'd like to participate in an interview! I’d love to hear your comedy journey.

Tickets for Harun’s Glasgow Comedy Festival shows can be found on the Comedy Festival Website.

My Stand-Up Journey 

By ​​Craig Speirs 

Just a hard working dad really 

Relatively new to the comedy scene I started with ultra comedy's summer 25  course it's a 8 week course lead by the amazing Viv gee at the end of it you get to do a 5 min set in front of 200 people it was a supportive and it was really fun and lighted a passion I never new I had for comedy I had always been a joker in work most my life's so was nice to make people laugh on stage and received positive feedback from the audience that day 

So I decided to try my set at a local open mic night just to see how it went before further pursuing my interest and again received positive feedback from experienced comedians and had the comedy bug ever since. 

I would have never imagined at the start it would have took me over Scotland to the Edinburgh fringe festival where I took part in the unhinged fringe doing 7 different dates aswell as some other one off spots at other shows and venues ive been down to Dumfries to do gigs I'm booked next year for dates in Dundee also various venues acorss glasgow and Falkirk to date I've done 31 gigs since june so it's been a great experience constantly meeting new people and seeing new acts as i go and seeing acts I've bever seen before as I go and learning how more experienced acts go about it 

I'm currently polishing off my final preparations for MAD MEN at the Glasgow international comedy festival where me and four other friends who I have met along this comedy journey will put on great show with five completely different acts coming together 

For me this is just the start of this comedy journey I plan to keep going and working hard to achieve where I want to be  IE writing a 1 hour but realistic enough to understand that it's takes time to do it right make it worth the wait as they say

The Company of Loss 

Richard Lala December 2025

It has become apparent to me that it’s probably better to avoid liking things too much. Don’t get used to stuff…don’t get too comfortable, because the enjoyments of life are all too often taken away. I realise we can’t take it with us when we’re gone, but can we not at least continue to enjoy them while we’re still here? Is life just an endless lesson on how to lose things? Accept loss as a part of life, shrug it off, and let things go? I am reminded of the well known biblical metaphor, from Jesus himself. 

“Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

I'm sitting in my local Weatherspoon’s writing this. I often come in here after work and order a Mocha (a coffee hot chocolate drink). The barman hands me the empty mug, I smile and walk to the machine but the usual option is not there. I enquire at the bar, I don’t go into details of the simple enjoyments of my life…and how these seemingly insignificant perks are enough to keep my keel from submerging into the depths of depressive despair. His boss informs me dismissively that they are no-longer offering the ‘Mocha’ option because there’s been such a nuisance with the hot chocolate dispenser. My smile collapses and my future implodes the skull as all comforting bridges to pleasure seemingly crumble all at once in every direction. 

You’d think I would be used to disappointment, as the ‘New Normal’ reality, gestated from the fears of viruses, and birthed from the isolated labour of lockdown, would have prepared me significantly for a future of mundane, obedient and submissive non-fulfilment? Why do I have to always reject the Tyrants’ plans? Where does this rebellious streak in me come from? A determined voice for justice. A champion against the grievous nature of loss and injustice. 

There was a Shawlands teahouse I once frequented, called, ‘Tchai-Ovna, South’. It was just the sort of bohemian space I love; no matching furniture, seating on different levels and an ambiance that suited the music of Billie Holiday and the likes of Mazzy Star and Angus and Julia Stone. I’d sip my Indian or Chinese tea with incense smoke scenting through the air, and there, while outsiders played Dungeons & Dragons, down there, I’d drink my poetry songs…until, of course, like the roll of the dice, it was gone, closed, turned into a laundrette! I loved that tearoom, I’ll never forget its homemade soup, crusted, chewy bread, olive humous and buttered scones. 

I shouldn’t dwell on it, wallow in the misery of loss, like when my dad died and I had to transition into the realisation that our physical time together was gone. It’s been three years and the pain, rather than fading, grows into an ever deepening root, a stake driven ever deeper into my heart. My tears have dried into a desert of salt that itches deeper than nails can scratch. Do I pray, do I kneel here in the dust and clay and rock and sway begging to hear his voice again…someday? My eyes redden from dismay, my heart is a rock now, a stone too heavy to skiff, how many times can I skip over this before the iron in my blood weights me to morose and all rots away? 

They say, ‘it helps to talk about it’… I remember when the doctor came into the family waiting room, spoke the words so soft and low and the walls constricted around us as my mother fell into my arms and we shook our heads into one another’s shoulders in disbelief, beggared in our pain, as our world collapsed in on us. Please, no… Rewind the time! Don’t let it be so… We’re not ready to let him go. But no mortal kindness can tell the Angel, no. There is no appeal that Death can hear, regardless of poetry or words spoken so clean and clear from the breaking heart sincere. 

The family came and spoke words of condolence, sentiments I’d used the same on other dear ones facing the similar cliché of pain, but their lessons shared were all in vain, all but one, a can’t recall her name but she looked me deeply in my eyes and like a digging tweezer simply stated. ‘Despite what they tell you, it doesn’t get easier.’ That was the truest thing anyone ever said to me. It doesn’t get any easier. Time does what time does best, buries the past in piles of forgetting sand. But, no matter what you tell yourself, the longer they’re gone is the longer they’re gone. 

“Don’t cry yourself to sleep, for I’ll see you in your dreams.”

So I’m sitting here tormented by treasured memories, sipping my horrible coffee and contemplating the future. Your health is your wealth as anyone with a cough, unable to swallow without pain, will tell you. Hold onto what you still have, cherish the ever shortening time you’ve got, and try to avoid dwelling on what you’ve not! I swap my rancid coffee for a whisky and stagger home in drunken melancholy. Because, no matter what we may tell ourselves, to pass the day till nights last breath, in this oneway-ticket world, nothing’s forever…except death. 

A Day in the Life

​Andy Bell

I’m Andy,  'The Scottish pirate'. Aye, when I’m on stage, I’m basically Captain Hook if he was fat, dyslexic, and shopping for spare parts on the NHS.

So, a wee look into my daily life. I’m 39 with two years’ experience… but my wife swears I’m 41. She lies. Honestly, she’s gaslighting me so slowly I’ll be 50 by Thursday.

Now, I’m an amputee. Lost my leg 14 years ago to a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis. A lovely word. Easy to spell… if you’re not dyslexic and have a PhD in witchcraft. Why do disabled people always get illnesses that sound like a Harry Potter spell?

“Neurofibromatosis!” Boom — there goes your leg.

I was actually meant to lose my leg when I was two, but my papa fought hard to keep it. And I’m grateful — I mean, 21 operations later it still came off, but at least I got the extended warranty.

Growing up, I also had undiagnosed autism, so I was helped by a charity called Play Plus (now known as Plus Forth Valley). They did amazing stuff: activities, trips, days out… basically everything my mum couldn’t handle because I was like a hyperactive seagull with questions.

They took me fishing for a weekend. I didn’t catch anything, I think even the fish sensed something was “off.” And I did drama too, which explains why I now walk on stage like a pirate attacking a pantomime.

Fast-forward 25+ years: I now have the honour of working for Plus Forth Valley, under brilliant leadership, helping kids and families just like mine. We all believe disability is no barrier to having fun, doing cool things, and living a life that would terrify most neurotypical people.

And that’s why I turned to comedy. Because if you can’t laugh at yourself (and I mean REALLY laugh at yourself) then who can you laugh at?

I’ve turned my tumultuous past...or as my dyslexia insists on spelling it, my turmeric past... into a comedy set.

And if it empowers other disabled people, makes them smile, or even just helps one person think, “Hey, my life’s not that weird”…

then that’s the real punchline.

On The Road with Alex McNair 

​Balaclavas, Ballots & Belfast: A Pink-Masked Comedy Tour of Ireland

By Alex McNair

 When you’re preparing for a comedy tour in Ireland, you expect Guinness, rain, and maybe a heckle about your accent. You don’t expect your wife to halt you at the front door and demand a wardrobe change to avoid political unrest.

 But that’s exactly what happened to me in May 2023, when myself and Edinburgh-based comic Mark Hadden set off from Scotland for a quick tour of the Emerald Isle. First stop: The Pavilion Bar, Belfast. Monday night. Crowd unknown. Vibe… tense.

 Now, I’m not exactly one for blending in. I perform stand-up sometimes as myself, and sometimes as The Flamboyant Gimp—a pink woollen gimp mask-wearing, sex-ed-preaching alter ego who enters stage left waving a giant sex toy named Eileen (yes, after the song). But even I hadn’t clocked the potential landmine strapped to my forearm.

 There, proudly inked on my arm, is the red poppy logo of my favourite band, The Alarm. A tribute to music, teenage rebellion, and Welsh rock anthems. But also—my wife reminded me just as I was about to leave—it’s the symbol of British military remembrance. In Belfast. During an election week. With the words Marching On tattooed underneath.

 Marching. In Belfast. I may as well have walked on stage humming the Sash.

 So I changed my top, swapped the sleeveless look for something less “sectarian statement,” and off we went. The Pavilion is a cracking venue, full of locals, but the air that night had a whiff of low-level tension. Each comedian that went up tried to score points with topical jabs at the election—often clearly picking a side. You could see the laughter divide the room in real time. Like a live-action Twitter thread, except you couldn’t scroll past it.

 And then there was the final act. Brave. Honest. Possibly doing performance art.

They walked on, looked around the room, and opened with:

“Sorry I’m late, I was out campaigning for Sinn Féin.”

You could feel the entire loyalist side of the room slide back into their pints.

Then: “I’m trans.”

Some of the remainder disappeared emotionally.

And finally: “And I’m vegan.”

Even the neutral table sighed.

 It was like watching a parachute fail to open… and then catch fire.

 Meanwhile, us two daft Scots had a surprisingly warm reception. Mark did his smart, observational stuff and charmed the room. And me? I came on dressed in a pink balaclava, wielding a giant rubber fanny named Eileen. I looked like a gay paramilitary tribute act for Pride Season.

 But somehow, it worked. Maybe because I didn’t pick a side. Maybe because I looked like I’d been raised by the Pet Shop Boys and Sinn Féin’s marketing department. Maybe because laughter, at its best, is a neutral territory.

 In the end, the night wasn’t about the poppy on my arm or the politics in the room. It was about two Scots, a good crowd, a pink wool mask, and the unifying power of a giant rubber fanny.

 Sláinte, Belfast. Let’s do it again sometime.

GAMING 

​BY Euan Scarlett

​Happy December Peoples! For many that will mean Xmas and all the surrounding fun shenanigans, but never forget that for all the poor people working in hospitality and retail, this is simply amateur drinkers and major bam season. When you are out shopping or enjoying yourself this season, please pay heed to the hardworking staff helping you and don’t be a cunt.

With that PSA out the way, it’s obviously a perfect time of year to look at games set at or during the silly season itself, as well as look at some suggestions for an alternative to watching your drunk Aunt Maggie’s ill-advised attempt at miming “Fifty Shades of Grey” during the traditional after-dinner game of charades.

First off though – despite this monthly nonsense ostensibly being about videogames, I see no reason not to be occasionally talking about other types of media in tangential reference, so, what would I recommend as the best non-traditional Xmas music to put on for those who, like some of our intrusive thoughts, would happily slap Mariah Carey for singing just the opening note again? Well, thanks for asking.

​Obviously, every one of the 18 original Xmas hits on the classic Now Xmas Album from the mid 80s is a banger, but the G.O.A.T. is “Mr Hankey’s Xmas Classics”, the South Park Xmas album, in which Matt and Trey pull no punches and offend just about everyone, Christian or not. Who could forget such seasonal favourites as “The Lonely Jew on Christmas” and “Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo”? It’s a cold heart indeed that isn’t moved by Hitler’s emotional take on perennial classic “O Tannenbaum”, or that isn’t then warmed as Satan cheers him up stage-musical style with “Christmas Time in Hell”. Warms me every year for sure, your mileage may vary depending on how easily offended you or your Xmas guests are.

Next up is none other than Captain Kirk / TJ Hooker himself, William “The Shat” Shatner and his batshit crazy 2018 Christmas album “Shatner Claus”, which features the Shat and a selection of musical guests including Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Rick Wakeman, Judy Collins and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, with whom our Shat ‘duets’ on interesting interpretations of traditional Xmas classics. Genuinely amazing, insane and perplexing and possibly the best of all of Shatner’s musical output.

Also - Danny Elfman’s soundtrack for “The Nightmare Before Christmas”;

Adam Sandler’s “The Hannukah Song”;

and Twisted Sister – Twisted Christmas (2007). Just… yes. Banging metal Christmas carols with Dee Snyder, every household deserves a Dee Snyder for Xmas.

​​​Right so you’ve got the tunes out the way so what are the best Xmas games you can play? Whilst there are many many games across all genres that have a snowy or icy level, and several that are set in wintery lands or have an arctic biome, I decided to focus just on games that have specifically Xmas themes or settings.

To start, I will state that Dead Rising 4 is easily the worst of the series, but still has a huge amount of entertainment to be taken from the familiar running around a shopping mall full of zombies using whatever you can find, from golf clubs to giant fish displays as slapstick weapons against the undead army. This time, the apocalypse has happened in December and so the whole game is infused with Christmas cheer - the mall decorated appropriately for the season, Xmas music playing as background to the carnage, and zombies wearing santa hats and suits. There’s even a free download that lets you turn up the Xmas stuff to 11. As previously said, probably not the best Dead Rising to start with in the series as a lot has been dumbed down from what started as quite a clever stupid game, but the Xmas setting does liven it up and it is a lot of fun in small doses. The mini-golf game that was dlc is stupid and entertaining as well, and the game regularly goes on sale at silly cheap prices.

​Next we have what is considered the worst in the Batman Arkham series of games, 2013’s Batman: Arkham Origins. Developed by WB Games Montréal rather than the UK’s Rocksteady who are the main series developer, and released as a stop-gap whilst the actual third game in the series, Batman: Arkham Knight would eventually release in 2015. Worst in a series of 4 of the best action games of all time is still pretty good though, and the biggest issue people seem to have with this is that it doesn’t have Batman voiceover GOATS Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker, something that doesn’t matter after about 15 minutes. Anyway, if you enjoyed Batman: Arkham City, arguably the best in the series, this is basically more of the same, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. It’s available on PC and the 360 version is backwards compatible on the Xbox consoles.

​The plot this time revolves around a young Batman, not long out of Batman school, who has a bounty placed on his head by villain Black Mask, who you will remember was played onscreen by Scottish man Ewan McGregor in “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” in 2020. This bounty brings 8 of the world’s top killers to Gotham on Christmas Eve in order to take down the Billionaire Bat Fetishist. Definitely worth your time finding out if they can. The entire game is set on Christmas Eve night, leading into Christmas Day, which is obviously bang on with our seasonal roundup, even with, having checked my completed game save file, Christmas Eve in Gotham city is apparently 67 hours long.

​Our third Xmas game is Tom Clancy’s The Division, a looty-shooty game from Ubisoft which can be picked up for around a fiver and is great. Does need online though even if you only want to play on yer own, which is stupid but there you go. You are a member of a ultra ultra secret division of the US secret services who are embedded as normal civilians in the domestic population, to be activated in the event of ‘the shit going down’. Which it does, in New York city, one Black Friday, when a lethal manufactured variation of the flu virus is unleashed on unsuspecting shoppers and the resulting pandemic is like (covid x covid) + Ebola) x the so-called “Spanish Flu” epidemic of 1918 to 1920. You are then activated, and get to run around a quite brilliant realistic version of a New York deserted, in the snow, with all the Xmas decorations up already, shooting looters and various other people not following lockdown procedure in the face, baws, fanny or wherever. Then they explode and drop coloured weapons that might be +3 better at shooting baws than the current pew-pew and you equip that so you can shoot more difficult looters etc in the fud and the cycle of loot-filled RNG gambling based violence continues. It’s great and got me through some of the darker moments in the actual pandemic, as you could pretend this fat combat armour-wearing prick shooting at you with the pink UZI was the same one that got the last bottle of antibacterial handwash in Lidl the other day. Therapeutic.

​​Last but not least is the greatest Christmas game of all time, Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, on the Sega Saturn. For whatever bizarre reason, SEGA decided that a good way to promote sales of their Saturn console at Christmas in 1996 would be to have an exclusive Christmas-themed version of one of the flagship titles for the console, NiGHTS into Dreams, which was the first new non-Sonic related title from the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog since the first Sonic game and highly anticipated. So during summer of 1996 a wee room full of Japanese guys went slowly mad listening to Jingle Bells on repeat. The game is basically a cut down of the full title and features Christmas story and redesigned version of the first level. In Japan it was included as an exclusive title with part of a Christmas bundle, or you could cover postage costs and claim a free copy from SEGA: in the USA and Europe, which the UK was still part of then, the game was free if you bought certain SEGA games or with the purchase of selected SEGA-based magazines, which for the younger readers were sort of like a series of webpages printed on paper which you would have to manually scroll through with your actual hands. I lost my UK copy at some point but managed to get a lovely Japanese copy when I was in Tokyo. It really is a delight and at some point I hope to remember I own it and play it on actual Xmas day.

​It goes without saying that all Die Hard games are Christmas games. I especially like the artist’s impression of Bruce Willis on the cover of Die Hard Arcade.

​But what do I play if I am forced into social interaction this festive season? you ask. Never fear, we have you covered. There’s actually a whole host of party games that support multiple players each using their mobile phone as a controller, easy to get everyone on board – players simply use the web browser on their phone to connect to the game, then the fun starts!

Absolute top choice for this sort of thing for me has to go to Jackbox Games and their ongoing series ‘Jackbox Party Pack’, which is now up to Party Pack 11 as well as spin-offs “The Jackbox Naughty Pack” and “The Jackbox Survey Scramble”. Each party pack contains 5 games which support varying player numbers, later packs often have sequels or updates to popular game from earlier packs so it is worth starting with Pack 1 if that is important to you but all of these are great. Examples of games are “You Don’t Know Jack!”, a crazed gameshow where “high culture and pop culture collide!”, and player phones are buzzers; “Fibbage”, which presents players with an obscure fact missing one word, players then enter a suggestion on their phone anonymously and then everyone chooses which is the correct answer from a list of all the player answers plus the correct one; and “Quiplash”, aimed at comedians, where random players are given prompts and have to provide the funniest answer, then everyone judges them on which is funnier. The Jackbox packs are available on most formats and regularly discounted, and are absolutely value for money if you think that they sound good fun. You just buy say, Jackbox 5 on PS5 and then run it on the TV and that’s how everyone sees the main screen. For any readers using PC, if you have an EPIC game store account you should be able to claim Jackbox Party Pack 4 for absolutely free from the Epic Games store between Dec 04 and Dec 11 2025, result! You may also be able to log into Amazon’s game service LUNA if you have an Amazon Prime sub, where several similar games using phones as controllers can be played as part of your existing subsctription, including something where you get judged in a courtroom by Snoop Dogg. Sounds ace.

TTFN!

Next month – sober January I expect.  Happy Holidays to all of you in reader land, Happy New Year when it comes. See you in 2026!

INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCERS (True Influencers, not the social media talentless attention seekers)

Friedrich Nietzsche

This month’s influencer is Friedrich Nietzsche, another German philosopher, and a man who can be considered the successor of last month’s influencer Arthur Schopenhauer, who built on his ideas but came to a very different conclusion.

​Nietzsche also believed in the metaphysical force called the will, but where Schopenhauer posited the “Wille zum leben” (will to life), and advocated negation of the will, Nietzsche saw this as life-denying pessimism, which he saw as a form of nihilism rooted in Christian values, and instead he wrote of the “Wille zur Macht” (will to power). Where Schopenhauer advised limiting desire and resigning from life to escape suffering, Nietzsche came to advocate embracing suffering as a necessary part of life and growth.

​Nietzsche was pro-envy; he believed that the negative influence of Christianity had led to the belief that envy was a sin to be overcome, but that it was in fact something we should first accept, then use it as a guide to getting what we want.  What we envy is what we should strive to attain, and even if we don’t succeed, as long as we have made a sincere effort, then failure can be accepted with dignity.  

​Envy wasn’t the only failing that Nietzsche attributed to Christianity, he regarded it as “sklavenmoral” (Slave Morality), a creed that denied what people really wanted, which is power and freedom and instead made them meek and submissive repurposing these as virtues but which is what people do not want. This was a major disagreement with the philosophy of Shopenhauer and its limiting of desires and resignation from life which Nietzsche thought fundamentally Christian even if Schopenhauer’s writings were not explicitly so.  In Götzen-Dämmerung (1889) Nietzsche argues that Schopenhauer’s philosophy is “anti nature” and leads to nihilism and that his pessimism devalues life.

​Nietzsche regarded Christianity as one of European civilisation’s great narcotics (as did Karl Marx) along with alcohol, he believed that both numbed the pain of life and made it more bearable and thus prevented people from striving to make the best of their lives. Suffering and discomfort should be used as driving forces towards self fulfillment. 

​Nietzsche is perhaps most famous for the phrase “Gott ist tot” (God is dead) from "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft" (1882) by which he meant that theology was no longer a foundation for morality and meaning in Western society due the Enlightenment and scientific advancements that had made belief in God unbelievable, leading to a potential collapse of traditional values and a risk of nihilism.

​In his book Also sprach Zarathustr (1883) Nietzsche introduced the concept of the Übermensch, a man who has overcome conventional morality and its limitations to create their own values and meaning in a world without God. Nietzsche's theoretical Übermensch is not a tyrannical figure but an ideal of self-mastery, creativity, and the courageous affirmation of life and the material world. This ideal is a goal for humanity to strive towards, particularly in the face of nihilism and the decline of traditional values. 

​While Nietzsche came to reject the philosophical conclusions of Schopenhauer, it was the later who died peacefully in his armchair at the age of 72, while Nietzsche had a mental breakdown in 1889 at the age of 44 and spent the final 11 years of his life in a state of total mental darkness. He required constant care from his family, first in an asylum and later in his mother's and then his sister's homes. He died in 1900 at the age of 55.

​So as the year draws to its end you can make your New Year Resolution to abandon the “sklavenmoral” that has held you back and strive to become a Nietzschean “Übermensch” who embraces the “Wille zur Macht”.

Jane Rutherford's cats 

This is Nel. She loves chasing her own tail and hates fireworks.

This is Summer. She's 11 years old and was adopted from the SSPCA as a kitten. She loves to steal human food especially the butter off your toast. She also likes stalking birds in the garden. She doesn't like an empty food bowl and shows her distain with constant squeaking (she cannot meow) until its filled up. She also dislike being brushed and having the crusty bits cleaned out of her eyes.  She loves being pampered but she doesn't like men

Yes Summer is Jane's cat, Nel was bought for her by her mum to keep her company but they have shared custody just now as she's only 5 months old and a bit of a tearaway.

Karen Ireland's dog Honey! 

Honey, hates mostly everyone.  She loves cheese,  playing in the leaves and also love belly rubs.

She's very sassy but loving to around the 5 people she likes!!!!!

Stephen Hamilton's dogs Cleo and Evie

Get a working dog they said. You'll never look back.

 Well, I've had Cleo four years now and not once has she lifted the Hoover or offered to do the dishes.

​Cleo

Likes: 

Loves playing with the ball but she never brings it back. It took me a year to realise she was so clever she didn't see the point in bringing the ball back to me only for me to throw it back to where she came from. We made a deal that when I throw her the ball I have to meet her half way to get it back off of her. 

 Dslikes:

Cleo hates the sounds of helicopters and airplanes and despite many attempts - she HATES horses.

Evie

Likes:

She goes to the back door, I let her out; only for her to want back in again so that I can let her back out again. This wee game can go on for about twenty minutes until one of us times ourselves out. 

 Dislikes:

She hates it when I either don't let her out the back door or refuse to let her back in again. 

 Both Cleo and Evie are Border collies.

Dear Cosmic Cathy,

I am single and lonely and hate Christmas. How do I get through another lonely Christmas? I am an amateur stand up comedian but don't know how to talk to people. 

From Lonely Girl, Glasgow. 

 Dear Lonely Girl,

You don't say if you hate Christmas because you're alone or if you're alone because you're Scroogie-McScroogie-pants and scare off anyone who wants to spend it with you. Nevertheless I have drawn The Moon card for you, a card representing negative emotions and ignoring reality! The reality is, 90% of stand up comedians are awkward, shy and utterly terrible at making the first move… So you're in pretty good company. The Moon card advises you to watch and listen, see who's also single and alone. Cosmic Cathy advises you to go up to one of those people and say; “What are your plans for Christmas?”... If they have plans, listen politely for a bit and then move on to the next person with the same question. Soon enough you'll meet someone who wants to bond over their disdain of all things festive. 

 Dear Cosmic Cathy,

I couldn't believe my luck when I landed my dream job as a columnist. Unfortunately it is just a side-hustle and my boring 9-5 needs to come first. I'm regularly missing my deadlines and fear my editor is losing patience. How can I be more organised in future? From Definitely-not-Cosmic-Cathy, Inverness. 

 Dear Definitely-not-Cosmic-Cathy,

I've drawn The Four of Pentacles, a misery chap who doesn't want to share in case his family misses out. On face value this could mean you don't want to share your precious time that could be spent baking, singing and all the other lovely things that mothers are supposed to do (according to the story books.) However, one suspects you've done more scrolling the socials than reading fairy tales with the children this month, so let's dig deeper… The Four of Pentacles is afraid, he wants to do right but is frozen in fear. He can choose to stay stuck or he can choose to be frivolous, both decisions will result in failure. The third option is he works slowly and deliberately, a little each day to responsibly achieve what he knows he can… And, maybe a little less Tiktok! 

 Dear Cosmic-Cathy,

I have been lucky enough to get the lead in my town's Christmas pantomime. However I fear I have bitten off more than I can chew, I still don't know my lines and don't think I ever will. Should I back out now and lose the opportunity of a lifetime, or should I keep going despite feeling like I am going to fail. From Terrified Of Success, Perth. 

 Dear Terrified of Success,

I've drawn The Ace of Swords. A card that says “STRIKE NOW”... No! Don't go on strike, I mean JUST DO IT! Keep on rehearsing and it will all be alright on the night. Oh yes it will! Where is your fear Terrified of Success? IT'S BEHIND YOU! 

 Dear Cosmic Cathy,

I'm disgusted that I can't get a proper Christmas tree from Tescos any more. I blame you coz I heard your a pagan and are stealing are culture. Wot are you going too do about it? Flag-Hanger, Falkirk. 

 Dear Flag-Hanger, please accept my most heartfelt apology for personally appropriating your Christmas many thousands of years before the birth of Christ. May I also admire your total disregard of irony, second only to your command of the English language. I don't know if you wanted me to draw you a card, but I drew you The Chariot, this card suggests you're going to be going away somewhere. I do hope it's far! 

 Please send in your problems, big or small for next month’s Cosmic Cathy column. 

 Disclaimer: Cosmic Cathy can only take credit for positives that come from your reading, she cannot be implemented in personal catastrophes, court cases or your divorce.