When you think about it, thinking’s pretty hard work. Particularly if you start trying to think about what you’re thinking about, and why it is you’re thinking exactly what it is you’re currently thinking, and why you’re bothering to think it, as well as think about it, at all.

Welcome to the Psychology Issue, dear readers, and thank you for your patience during this short break in transmission. We got so tied up in talking through our issues and validating each other’s feelings and measuring our responses and setting up positive paradigms for successful interaction, that our editorial meetings took on a disturbing feel.

Instead of “Stop playing Medal of Honour and write your fucking sports column!”, or “Put down that fucking book and get busy on PhotoShop!”, it’s all been, “Sweetheart, this is our project, and we really have to commit to it together. I know you need time to do your own thing, and I respect and validate that, but sometimes it makes me feel unappreciated when I ask for a little bit of your time and you’re doing something else. (you lazy drunken swine)”

So, we’ve been delayed by a bunch of long-winded “how do you feel” conversations (and cleaning up the vomit afterwards). Editorial meetings usually consist of throwing crockery and/or children at each other, but this month we’ve been sitting down with chai lattes, wearing cardigans, and discussing our auras. So, um sorry.

So, back to psychology, and what you can expect in this issue.

Despite ourselves, we seem to have got a bit serious with this topic – Mental Illness Is Not A Joke may give you a hint. We realised as we were putting this issue together that psychology is an enormously wide-ranging subject, and no matter how hard we tried to be funny everything kept getting back to pretty deep stuff.

Even something as simple as putting shit on self-help books found me reaching into my giant brain and making serious points, and realising how important it is to use and respect your mind.

So, what awaits you as you eagerly turn the pages? We’ve got a short story for you, very much NOT in our usual style, but interesting enough to rate inclusion. I have a rant (no really) but I think I still managed to just barely have a point.

Sunday Relish has a cheeky little Italian wine on review, and Luke points out that psychology isn’t actually something you should tackle on your own or with the assistance of a television.

Miranda takes us on a jolly little trip to the dark side of why serial killers do what they do.

The latest instalment of True Love is a little close to home, but hey, it’s a cracker, and it’s all true!

The eagerly-awaited Olympics wrap-up has finally made it to print, we’ve got a book review, a poem, and we also decided to publish a few of the letters our local kooks have sent us. If we could get a few more kooks contributing stories or articles, well that’d be just dandy, folks.

Next issue we cover the completely uncontroversial subject of gender, and we’ve got a few helpful suggestions for articles you could write for us on page 5.

So enjoy this Tribune, people, fight the power, rage against the washing machine (especially you, Toby), einsturzende neubaten, it’ll take a nation of millions to hold us back, we shall overcome, if you can’t be with the one you love send her a fish in the mail and buy some binoculars.

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