Opinions – Encrypted Pigeons

🗞️ The most famous thing Disraeli never said

On 7 November 2026

Two posts within 24 hours? Incredible. But whilst this post and the last one aren’t directly related, I’ve been thinking about both of them at the same time, so some ideas may cross-over. Consider this a happy coincidence.

Benjamin Disraeli was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1868, and again in 1874–1880. He was a member of the Conservative Party, gave Queen Victoria the official title “Empress of India”, reformed trade unions and education, and championed ‘One Nation Conservatism’ at home, which would influence the Conservative party for decades to come.

Beyond politics, Disraeli was also a popular novelist, writing over a dozen books in his career. As a result of all of this, he’s often a person that things are attributed to, whether he was actually involved with them or not. One of the more prevalent fields this occurs in is quotes supposedly “said by Disraeli”. I can’t think of a nicher subject to talk about currently, so naturally I thought I’d write an article on it.

🤖 People really complain about water a lot

By James Michael

On 6 November 2026

In Facts, Opinions

The biggest critique I’ve heard about AI — and it’s a reasonable one, let’s be fair — is the environmental concerns, and particularly with regards to water usage. In my case though, I’ve noticed people around me use it almost as a buzz phrase to reject AI without considering the possibility that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. So that’s what I’m doing — proving my friends wrong and writing an interesting article in the meantime.

This is going to be hard…

By James Michael

On 29 October 2026

In Opinions

First the facts: On Wednesday 28th October, following a battle with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia, actor Sir Patrick Stewart died in his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.

His career spanned over 60 years, and was remarkably widespread, with Shakespeare, Star Trek, and X-Men being just some of the many roles he effortlessly fit into. He was awarded two Olivier Awards and one Grammy Award, along with countless nominations for other awards. And in 2010, he was knighted for services to drama by Queen Elizabeth II.

And now he’s dead, and I can’t quite get my head around that. You can find biographies and descriptions of his life elsewhere online, but that’s not what I want to talk about. So here are my thoughts on Sir Patrick Stewart, may he rest in peace.

❓ Should I start using Google apps again?

By James Michael

On 25 October 2026

In Opinions

I know, I know, it’s a borderline blasphemous statement to say, but it’s something I’ve been considering for a little while, and today is one of those days when I remember I have a site dedicated to my thoughts. Who knew.

Over the last six months or so, I have comprehensively stripped Google and other Big Tech products out of my life as much as I could — photos, email, search, messaging, note-taking and storage, navigation, DNS, passwords, and more besides. As I went through, a pattern became visible, which was that I would delete a Google service, and then realise I needed to replicate their services. So I looked for other, more privacy-conscious providers. If I couldn’t find a suitable one that combined security and convenience adequately, I’d end up hosting the solution myself on my own server. Now, I’m at the stage where a lot of the apps on my phone or computer are entirely interchangeable; they all just read the protocols coming from my server. Which leads me now to this question: do I start using Google apps again, but this time with me in control, not the Googleplex.

🖊️ I’m quite particular about the Oxford Comma

By James Michael

On 11 October 2026

In Opinions

So I’m a bit of a pedant if you couldn’t already tell, and that extends to grammatical snobbery as well as technical and literary.

Part of that is my appreciation for grammar and language in general, as it is a living record of our history. But also it’s fun to tell other people about it. Anyone who knows the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom’ well enough to correct someone when they use the wrong one knows the exact feeling I’m talking about. We are such awful people. 😂

🔒My favourite Proton feature

By James Michael

On 25 September 2026

In Opinions

So for the avoidance of doubt, and for anyone who might not know, Proton AG is a Swiss tech company trying to create an internet where privacy is the default option, directly opposing big tech giants like Google or Apple. They are my go-to for Mail and Password/Auth security, as well as more general advice on the current state of the internet.

I could say many things about Proton’s feature-list, some of them excellent, some less so. But one thing stands out in my everyday usage of Proton, and it relates to the calendar.

🇪🇺 Europe isn’t the answer

By James Michael

On 7 September 2026

In Opinions

Ah, so you’ve decided my deranged ramblings are worthwhile listening to after all. Well, at the end of the last instalment of Encrypted Pigeons, I had a very healthy de-Googled phone, a bunch of data exports, and absolutely no way to do anything with them. The thing about Google apps is that you actually need to replace them with something. Stands to reason, really…

But I wasn’t going to be put off and return to American Big Tech. Rather than tackling Big Tech specifically, I decided it was the Americans who had to go. Hello Brussels.

My concern at this point wasn’t privacy per se — it was simply is an app British or European, and do I enjoy using it. A few notable cases come to mind with this.

🪤 Turns out leaving Google is harder than you think…

By James Michael

On 30 August 2026

In Opinions

Welcome back to the next part in the series I’m calling “Encrypted Pigeons“. Why? Because it’s a frankly terrible name and I’m sticking with it.

At the end of the last issue, I was talking about my overall experiences with privacy, and how that has changed quite a bit. Roughly six months ago, I had no real understanding of digital privacy, and I was perfectly happy to keep going as I was. My main computer was Windows 11; I messaged everyone on WhatsApp, and practically everything I did backed up onto Google drive in some way or another. Google Photos, Google calendar, Google everywhere.

I was happy with that, because it all worked together quite well. I only had a vague sense that maybe my digital life wasn’t quite in my control.

🧙 My review of Earthsea: the first four books.

By James Michael

On 26 August 2026

In Opinions, Reviews

I’d been quite excited to read this one for a while. It was a Christmas present, and I’d been told that Ursula Le Guin was “the birth of modern fantasy”. Tolkien’s predating her by about a decade aside, it was certainly interesting.

One disclaimer: the edition I read was the original Earthsea quartet of A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu. It did not include the two later books written to finish the series.