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Letter: There's more than one way to be creative

Published 7 January 2026

From James Fradgley, Wimborne, Dorset, UK

The article “A daily dose of creativity” by Daisy Fancourt has a very appropriate subtitle including the phrase “benefits of creative expression”. The article goes on to conflate creativity with art, at which I demur. As someone who has no artistic abilities at all (well, pretty much), in my youth, I wrote computer programs. These were a considerable intellectual challenge. The buzz I got out of this creativity was enormous, and the more technically demanding the task, the more stimulating it was (27 December 2025, p 36).

I therefore put it to you that creativity is indeed good news, but that need not imply anything arty. One may say exercising my skills was artistic, but I’d argue that since the buzz was all about technical complexity, I think not. However, it certainly was creative.

Issue no. 3577 published 10 January 2026

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