Steven Bartlett and the art of not living

Steven Bartlett, well known podcaster, yes man and prolific spreader of health misinformation, recently shared on his podcast that a couple glasses of wine ruined three days of his life. There has been a large response to this centred around his overreaction. He likes to use his platform to tell people what they should be doing, one of those people who must ‘optimise’ everything in life, turning life into buzzwords and numbers. And quite frankly, it’s boring.

If we take life expectancy of the UK male at 80 years, then the three days of his life that were ruined equate to 0.01% of his life. That is nothing, it’s a penny to a hundred pounds. It fits well in the current trend of hyperbolic discussions around health and how to live. No one needs to tell you how to live and the problem is that many of these discussions tell you how to not live. It’s all about never drinking, never eating anything unhealthy, never watching films and never going out late, and if that’s how you want to live and it makes you happy then that’s great, but if you find happiness and joy in these things then that’s also great. Do what makes you happy. Don’t do what a rich capitalist who has never smiled or laughed does. Bring back balance.

 Now, I enjoy drinking a lot. I recently went on my own to Wayward’s warehouse session with winemaker Fabio Ferracane where I had 2 glasses of wine. I got to learn about a region and grapes that I’m less knowledgeable of and taste some new natural wines, but more than that, I got to meet some new people and chat and laugh with strangers. Something that would ruin Steven Bartlett’s week made my week, which just shows that you shouldn’t always listen to what other people(men) want you to do. Listen to and follow you heart and do what makes you happy. Live.

What I'm drinking:

Fabio Ferracane, Aggiara 2021 - https://waywardwines.co.uk/products/fabio-ferracane-aggiara-2021

Antonio Gismondi, Foresta 2024 - https://waywardwines.co.uk/products/gismondi-foresta