THE LAST NOT-CHRISTMASSY ONE OF THE YEAR

Welcome, welcome. 

Here we are: the last stop before everything goes full-tilt festive. Next time the Clubhouse opens its doors, we'll be unrecognisably be-tinsled, dripping in glitter and smelling strongly of cinnamon.

But for now, step inside for something a little more savoury. This month in the Clubhouse, we've been thinking about schadenfreude, Noel Edmonds, and the benefits of making things go slow. 

Come on in. 

THE CASE FOR SLOWING DOWN
Making everything easy has made everything difficult

Slowing things down deliberately seems counterintuitive in our everything-now era. But a growing number of disenchanted tech industry voices are telling us that we need to reintroduce some friction into our experiences: making things slower might actually make us happier. 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SCHADENFREUDE
It's not just a German thing.

Germany got knocked out of the UEFA league of nations this month, while England's brave boys sailed through to the finals. In other news, here's a history of the concept of Schadenfreude: pleasure taken at the pain of others.

EINSTEIN ON LOVE
"When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe, they forgot the most powerful unseen force."

A little known fact about Albert Einstein is that he was a prolific sender of memos and letters. A big collection of his writings have just been released, including this moving letter to his daughter about the power of love. 

FAKE YOUR WAY TO INSTAGRAM GREATNESS
'My life has never seemed better!'

Is your online life looking a bit lacklustre? Don't worry. LifeFaker.com is here to sell you packages of photographs that will make your life look brilliant. 

(Obviously, this is a joke. It's actually a brilliant campaign by Sanctus about the very real mental health dangers of social media.)

I DID NOT KNOW MY PHONE COULD DO THAT
A very handy trick that makes writing on your phone much easier

Okay, maybe not everyone is as 'shook' as this Buzzfeed article would have you believe. But this trick for moving the cursor around when you're typing on an iPhone is very handy, nonetheless.

THE COSMOS AND NOEL EDMONDS
Harking back to the golden age of Deal or No Deal

Noel Edmonds is currently being a celebrity-get-me-out-of-here, but a few years ago, he was riding high on the success of his (when you think about it, mental) gameshow, Deal Or No Deal.

Writer Jon Ronson went behind the scenes at the time and wrote this hilarious, bewildering article. It's well worth revisiting. 

WORDS SERVED FRESH
Tam dishes up the goods for Gousto

We love working in other people's offices. All that getting up close and personal with your products, seeing how everything works. This month, Tamara has been holed up at Gousto, cooking up all kinds of wonderful food related copy.

Here she is serving up a fresh article about healthy eating.