This week: PETA targets male wellness culture, Future Friends returns with a stacked line-up, Paul Smith backs UK makers, and the origins of cycling’s pink jersey are revealed.

Hard Sell
PETA targets men with vegan health spot.

U & I Both
A vast archive of interface components.

Must Go
Future Friends reveals its latest line-up.

British Craft
Paul Smith spotlights UK artists and makers.

Pretty In Pink
The Giro D’Italia jersey’s print origins.

This week: National Rail heads trackside with Wet Leg, a new play tackles men’s mental health, WePresent enters campaign season, and tiramisu records fall.

All Aboard
Joe Wilkinson meets Wet Leg for National Rail.

Love Apptually
A new film examines technology and connection.

Class Role
Joe Mallalieu’s play RUM tackles men’s mental health.

Got Your Vote
Jack Lowden fronts WePresent political short.

About Time
World’s longest tiramisu record broken.

This week: TCO launches a new report, Lipton targets a familiar icon, Seed Talks hosts a folklore evening, and video-store nostalgia becomes playable.

The Last Picture Shop
Kickstarter launches documentary on London’s last film shop.

The Great Unrotting
TCO launches its latest report.

Peachy
Lipton moves to reclaim a familiar emoji.

Fairy Folklore
Seed Talks hosts Sharon Blackie on fairytales.

VHS Nostalgia
Retro Rewind celebrates video-store banality.

This week: Prada taps art world provocation, resistance to big tech builds, sun-chasing gets practical, and a mascot returns.

Bird Watching
Prada teams up with Jordan Wolfson for SS26.

Live Conversation
Karen Hao and Carole Cadwalladr on the fight to curb big tech’s power.

Are You Angry Yet?
BBC documentary examines rage-fuelled social platforms.

Here Comes The Sun
App tracks London’s sunniest pub gardens.

Who Let the Dogs Out?
Dulux revives its long-running mascot.

This week: a new model for kids’ screen time, one man’s parking odyssey, brand systems built for culture, and strategy stripped back.

Once Upon A Scroll
Meevee launches intentional kids’ media platform.

Local Hero
Man parks in every spot over 18 months.

High Flyers
Uncommon reframes stress for British Airways.

Culture Refocused
Platform 13 builds brands for shifting culture.

Death by Framework
Salmon Labs hosts no-nonsense comms strategy seminar.

This week: AI pet soap operas dominate the internet, collage making meets fell running, and a familiar cleaning hero returns.

News Agnostic
The New York Times backs journalism — wherever you get it.


Generated Tails
Chinese AI pet dramas are a thing.


Cut & Paste (At Pace)
Huck and Rab host fell running collage workshop.


Naan I Need
Urban Tandoor covers Olivia Dean classic.


Where’s He Been?
Cillit Bang teases Barry Scott’s return.

Murakami and Harry Styles compare miles, supermarket machinery becomes soundscape, and Britain’s swimming pools get their moment.

Half Time Snack
Cadbury’s Made To Share invades the pitch.

Get Your Kicks
JD taps Louis Theroux for Air Max 95 relaunch.

Running Away With It
Harry Styles goes the distance with Haruki Murakami.

Cool Track
Co-Op freezer hum goes viral on YouTube.

Pool Porn
An ode to Britain’s swimming baths.

Social media challenged, creator culture reframed, early YouTube canonised, and a new wave of artists steps forward.

Molly vs The Machines
New documentary shares Molly Russell’s story.

The Only Way Is Design
Gemma Collins becomes Canva’s creative director.

No Smoke Without Fire
Mumsnet likens social media to cigarettes.

Frame of Reference
The V&A acquires YouTube’s first video.

The New Old Guard
South London Gallery backs emerging artists.

AI worldbuilding, a growing movement to reclaim land, and warrior mythology in the capital.

New Worlds
Google’s Project Genie builds worlds in seconds.

Right to Roam
A documentary follows the campaign to reclaim Britain’s countryside.

Warrior Class
Samurai discipline comes to the British Museum.

Read All About It
ChatGPT is fielding one million local news requests a week.

So Long, Farewell
An ode to Tokyo’s disappearing love hotels.

Ad industry critique, Mozilla pushing back on Big AI, and why you’re seeing tiny little graphics everywhere.

• Career Performance
  Guus ter Beek invites you to max out your job title. Meaning optional.

  
  

• Think Small
  Micrographics return.

  
  

• Currents of Tomorrow
  Third edition of the Future Days Festival announced for June.

  
  

• Page Turner
  Steve Harrison questions Adland’s progressive gaze.

  
  

• Choose Your Future
  Mozilla pushes back on Big AI.

  
  

Norman conquests, collapsing search traffic, and apps that check you’re not dead.

• Bayeux Believe It
  The famous French tapestry returns to England for the first time in 900 years.
  
  

• Reuters Reports
  Publishers expect traffic from search engines to decline by more than 40% over the next three years.
  
  

• Are You Dead?
  A Chinese app asks people living alone to confirm they’re still alive.
  
  

• Picture This
  The National Gallery launches a free creative programme for 16–21-year-olds.
  
  

• Crawl Space
  Experimental digital essays blending playful UI and UX.
  
  

The power users among you may have noticed a distinct Race Notes–shaped hole in the last two issues of Carb Load. Full disclosure: I was cooking something up.

For a while now, I’ve wanted to give the links their own section.

So that’s what I’ve done (new year, new Carb Load and all that).

This new section is called Split Tracker. What’s a little link if not a mini training interval — small sets that, over time, add up to improved performance, right?

As before, there’s no real rhyme or reason to them. They’re simply things I’ve seen, heard, or read that I’ve found interesting — and imagine you might feel the same.

Every week, I’ll share five (or so) with you all — hopefully doable now I’m not relying on full issues to share them.

Okay, let’s get on with it.

Scope Creep
Wondermake gamifies the horror of project management.

Proper Packets
Sports Banger launches crisp book.

Superior Interiors
Dead Pubs documents its favourite boozers of 2025.

How To Be a Villager
Lovely ideas for community-building by Sarah Alfieri.

Visual Rambling
Superb data-visualisation passion project.