diff --git a/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py b/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py
index 96d07c1f..47f1a625 100755
--- a/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py
+++ b/pelican/tools/pelican_themes.py
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ def install(path, v=False, u=False):
         exists = os.path.exists(theme_path)
         if exists and not u:
             err(path + ' : already exists')
-        elif exists and u:
+        elif exists:
             remove(theme_name, v)
             install(path, v)
         else:
@@ -245,15 +245,14 @@ def clean(v=False):
     c = 0
     for path in os.listdir(_THEMES_PATH):
         path = os.path.join(_THEMES_PATH, path)
-        if os.path.islink(path):
-            if is_broken_link(path):
-                if v:
-                    print('Removing {}'.format(path))
-                try:
-                    os.remove(path)
-                except OSError:
-                    print('Error: cannot remove {}'.format(path))
-                else:
-                    c += 1
+        if os.path.islink(path) and is_broken_link(path):
+            if v:
+                print('Removing {}'.format(path))
+            try:
+                os.remove(path)
+            except OSError:
+                print('Error: cannot remove {}'.format(path))
+            else:
+                c += 1
 
     print("\nRemoved {} broken links".format(c))
diff --git a/pelican/writers.py b/pelican/writers.py
index b08da1f3..afc8e4b7 100644
--- a/pelican/writers.py
+++ b/pelican/writers.py
@@ -37,13 +37,12 @@ class Writer:
             feed_title = context['SITENAME'] + ' - ' + feed_title
         else:
             feed_title = context['SITENAME']
-        feed = feed_class(
+        return feed_class(
             title=Markup(feed_title).striptags(),
             link=(self.site_url + '/'),
             feed_url=self.feed_url,
             description=context.get('SITESUBTITLE', ''),
             subtitle=context.get('SITESUBTITLE', None))
-        return feed
 
     def _add_item_to_the_feed(self, feed, item):
         title = Markup(item.title).striptags()
@@ -71,7 +70,7 @@ class Writer:
             if description == content:
                 description = None
 
-        categories = list()
+        categories = []
         if hasattr(item, 'category'):
             categories.append(item.category)
         if hasattr(item, 'tags'):
@@ -83,13 +82,17 @@ class Writer:
             unique_id=get_tag_uri(link, item.date),
             description=description,
             content=content,
-            categories=categories if categories else None,
+            categories=categories or None,
             author_name=getattr(item, 'author', ''),
             pubdate=set_date_tzinfo(
-                item.date, self.settings.get('TIMEZONE', None)),
+                item.date, self.settings.get('TIMEZONE', None)
+            ),
             updateddate=set_date_tzinfo(
                 item.modified, self.settings.get('TIMEZONE', None)
-                ) if hasattr(item, 'modified') else None)
+            )
+            if hasattr(item, 'modified')
+            else None,
+        )
 
     def _open_w(self, filename, encoding, override=False):
         """Open a file to write some content to it.
@@ -101,9 +104,8 @@ class Writer:
             if override:
                 raise RuntimeError('File %s is set to be overridden twice'
                                    % filename)
-            else:
-                logger.info('Skipping %s', filename)
-                filename = os.devnull
+            logger.info('Skipping %s', filename)
+            filename = os.devnull
         elif filename in self._written_files:
             if override:
                 logger.info('Overwriting %s', filename)
@@ -139,7 +141,7 @@ class Writer:
             'SITEURL', path_to_url(get_relative_path(path)))
 
         self.feed_domain = context.get('FEED_DOMAIN')
-        self.feed_url = self.urljoiner(self.feed_domain, url if url else path)
+        self.feed_url = self.urljoiner(self.feed_domain, url or path)
 
         feed = self._create_new_feed(feed_type, feed_title, context)
 
diff --git a/tasks.py b/tasks.py
index 148899c7..e4268ec6 100644
--- a/tasks.py
+++ b/tasks.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ PKG_NAME = "pelican"
 PKG_PATH = Path(PKG_NAME)
 DOCS_PORT = os.environ.get("DOCS_PORT", 8000)
 BIN_DIR = "bin" if os.name != "nt" else "Scripts"
-PTY = True if os.name != "nt" else False
+PTY = os.name != "nt"
 ACTIVE_VENV = os.environ.get("VIRTUAL_ENV", None)
 VENV_HOME = Path(os.environ.get("WORKON_HOME", "~/virtualenvs"))
 VENV_PATH = Path(ACTIVE_VENV) if ACTIVE_VENV else (VENV_HOME / PKG_NAME)
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ VENV = str(VENV_PATH.expanduser())
 VENV_BIN = Path(VENV) / Path(BIN_DIR)
 
 TOOLS = ["poetry", "pre-commit", "psutil"]
-POETRY = which("poetry") if which("poetry") else (VENV_BIN / "poetry")
-PRECOMMIT = which("pre-commit") if which("pre-commit") else (VENV_BIN / "pre-commit")
+POETRY = which("poetry") or VENV_BIN / "poetry"
+PRECOMMIT = which("pre-commit") or VENV_BIN / "pre-commit"
 
 
 @task