Phil Cain's Blog

This is a work of pure fiction. I moved to Brighton in the noughties in a bid to relieve the fatigue I had accumulated from a London life.  I felt there was some open space around me, the sea and the slow rolling Downs, a release from a dreary daily entanglement with tubes, escalators and […]

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A number of people have expressed an interest in a service described in a recent story which empowers people to have more meaningful downtime by being unwell with a bespoke ailment. So here it is, one step closer to reality. With SMART Sickie™ there’s more ways to share, more ways to connect. ■

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A short journey in incomprehension. As normal I will begin by saying, absolutely none of this is true, apart from the bits which are.  I don’t know. It was a tricky theme this month. And some people can have a clear goal in mind. Comedians have a fairly easy measure of success. Make the audience […]

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We shared chips and gravy
On our way home to mine
Our whole hot mess
Had its beginning that time

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Heavy internet use can cause mental overload and distraction, so I drew on some public health ideas to create a long-term digital shelter for just over a tenner.

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Margo Martindale makes a wonderfully malign presence in “Blow the man down” (2019), a film which delivers that rare combination of funny, tense and heavily fishing-oriented. 8/10 #moviereview #blowthemandown

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Proud to present a sneak peak of the 1, the ultimate in minimalist mobile communication devices. In transmit mode it can be used to reach friends, family and all-important business contacts at surprisingly long distances. And, deployed as a full bandwidth audio receiver, it can receive quiet voices and even rustling and other nature sounds […]

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“There we are, Cath: 73rd best eggs and toast worldwide this morning, and 423rd of all time. And that’s official. Top ten percentile. It’s a personal best. Enjoy!” Craig slid the plate towards Cathy along the breakfast table. She looked down as the immaculately presented eggs and toast slid into shot. The eggs oozed lustrously […]

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“To the Success of our Hopeless Cause” is a suitably paradoxical title for this fascinating journey into the perilous and puzzling world of Soviet dissidents. They were not fighting as would-be westerners, but as homo sovieticus. This meant they were not struggling for consumer capitalism or liberal democracy, but for better communism. And their strategy […]

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THE VIENNESE BOHÈME, Works from the Hagen Society, Until 12 October 2025 Some pics related to a jolly bunch of late 19th century cafe enthusiasts called the Hagen Society, the subject of an exhibition now at the Albertina. Their favourite things were playing cards, drawing caricatures of one another, speed illustration competitions and joke paintings […]

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