My 2014: Assistant Editor Maisie Skidmore looks back on this year

This year I travelled a bit, read a lot and learned to cook a roast dinner. Here are some other good things I picked up along the way.

What has the internet taught you this year?

Never save naked pics to your iCloud, and Beyoncé rules all.

What’s been your favourite interview/piece of writing of the year?

i-D’s Beautiful Issue this winter was a tour de force of contemporary aesthetic culture, and in it Nathalie Olah wrote a brilliant piece about beauty in the age of technology. She explores the effect of social media on our cultural consciousness in an intelligent and incisive way, and with a sense of perspective on the way digital media has morphed into an unpredictable beast that very few writers seem able to achieve. The issue is still on the stands now, and if you haven’t laid your hands on a copy yet I strongly recommend you do, it’s a proper gem.

Which website do you think has really stepped up their game this year?

It’s not really an obvious choice for me, but the Wired redesign earlier this year has made me interact with their content in a completely different way. Where before I would have clicked on and off again in a matter of seconds dismissing their articles as being aimed at techy nerds, the huge images and bold headlines now drag me in in seconds. Of course I want to see what NASA are about to send into space! Why wouldn’t I want to read about the lack of women in the tech industry? Pat on the back to their web designers for being so brave and brilliant.

Which song/album would be the soundtrack to your year?

Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop (That Thing) and Odetta’s beautiful Bob Dylan covers album.

Which app could you have not lived without this year?

I bloody love Instagram. Bring me dinner shots and selfies over Facebook’s analytics-governed trickle of Lad Bible any day of the week.

What’s been your favourite publication this year?

The magazine I buy the most religiously is Jalouse magazine. It’s a funny, cheeky dose of art, fashion and pop culture and it teaches me cool new French words without me really realising. It’s clung on to a monthly release where so many other publications have chickened out this year, and it’s also the best long train journey read. Partly because it’s only £3.20 (bargain) and they stock it in that giant WHSmiths at Victoria.

Also, The Gentlewoman for reasons that don’t even need explaining at this point in its lustrous life, and The Plant for making my bathroom look great.

What’s the best exhibition you’ve visited?

The Only Fools and Horses exhibition in the café at the end of the mile-long pier at Southend-on-Sea was a corker, if only for the grade A giftshop. I literally am grateful for my Uncle Albert and Grandad-shaped salt and pepper shakers at every meal.

One valuable lesson you have learnt in 2014?

Listening to Radio 4 in the morning will make you a better person.

Do you have any new year’s resolutions?

Be more fearless.

Give us a recipe for an incredible Christmas lunch SIDE dish.

Anybody who saw Gogglebox last Friday will remember the moment when, to Leon’s horror, Jamie Oliver sprinkles pomegranate seeds all over a freshly roasted goose. I’m quite keen to have a side of pomegranate seeds with my Asda turkey and Aunt Bessie’s roast potatoes. We’ll see how that one goes down with the rest of the family.