National

Friendship

Opinion

The emotional torture of recommending something you love to someone you like

Thomas Mitchell Culture reporter September 6, 2025 — 7.00pm

My friend Cameron is not dramatic by nature, so I was right to be alarmed when he texted me a close-up photo of his frowning face, accompanied by the words: “Hey, just wondering why you hate me?”

I’m not sure what it says about the state of my conscience, but rather than thinking, “Oh, no, what’s he on about?” I instead jumped to “Oh dear, what’s he heard?”

My first thought concerned a recent joke I’d made at his expense about a shirt he’d worn being from Gorman (it was loud and covered in patterns). I’d felt bad afterwards and even worse now, so the time had come to apologise via text. “Is this about the Gorman th

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