(Listen)

APRIL and MAY gigs include: Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Newcastle 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dordogne 🇫🇷 Hawick 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Ayr 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Stirling 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Arbroath 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Paisley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Peebles 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Leeds 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Didsbury 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mold 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 London 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Fareham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bude 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 More dates to be added ✌️ Check website for full details: jocaulfield.com/live/

Thank you, Ruth, for chatting with us, and thank you to all who took part in tonight’s #AuthorInterview. To find out about future events, make sure to follow us on Bluesky and the hashtag #WomenWritersNet. @ruthwriter.bsky.social

WGGB members are invited to a Spring social hosted by our London Branch rep Jamie Rhodes It takes place on Weds 8 April (6-8pm) in central London To find out venue and other details and RSVP, email [email protected]

Energy-boosters for all you lovely #writers in #rewrite land this Easter… gillkirk.com/2026/04/05/r...

Energy-boosters for all you lovely #writers in #rewrite land this Easter… gillkirk.com/2026/04/05/r...

Rewriting..?!

The sublime. The ridiculous. (“Maybe aye, maybe no…” #iykyk) Second Page Books in #Bristol. A dragon’s hoard of #secondhandbooks.

There’s a 6-minute long #audio tale waiting for you on the other side of this click 👇 Give me 4 minutes and some survey answers and it’s all yours. (Folk quite like it. A lot). ✂️ 🎧 🎭 gillkirk.com/2026/03/25/g...

From Sutherland to Orkney : Stories of Clearance theorkneynews.scot/2026/03/27/f...

Give me 4 minutes of your time by completing a survey for me, and I'll reward you with 6 minutes of free, super-sizzling story-telling. That's gotta be a win, right?

Give me 4 minutes of your time by completing a survey for me, and I'll reward you with 6 minutes of free, super-sizzling story-telling. That's gotta be a win, right?

“Dear gods, PLEASE let this not be shit…” The writer’s tightrope act, on that very thin line between safe predictability and the vital *zing* of danger…. gillkirk.com/2026/03/19/s...

My gristle? Throbbing.

Aptly, a total chef’s kiss for this. Had been meaning to dig into this ‘cos I love (Norwegian) Bokmål’s «kjøkken» - have a look!

'Ye' in names such as 'Ye Olde Inn' was originally pronounced 'the'. The pronunciation with y is due to a misinterpretation. 'Ye' originated as a second-best way of writing 'þe', þ being thorn, the original English letter for the th sound. Click my new infographic to read the story of thorn:

The origin of the word ‘iron’ is shrouded in mystery. It comes from a Proto-Germanic word that was most probably borrowed from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom, the ancestor of Irish ‘iarann’. The Celts were skilful metal workers. However, tracing it further back is hard. My new graphic shows 4 hypotheses:

One of my Mother’s Day gifts is this… youtube.com/shorts/AA37P...

Reverting to Tom Lehrer in the face of geopolitical events. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLO...

Ran a workshop at the weekend and when we got to rule-breaking, it all kicked off…. gillkirk.com/2026/03/10/b...

Palantir CEO Alex Karp thinks his AI technology will lessen the power of “highly educated, often female voters” while increasing the power of working-class men. @commonswec.parliament.uk - Is this something you’re looking at? Because….

I dreamt I was being shown an official dossier which was going to be the damning justification for war. It was nothing but pictures of bitten fingernails.

Ran a workshop at the weekend and when we got to rule-breaking, it all kicked off…. gillkirk.com/2026/03/10/b...

"As Stewart Lee said, ‘there was something really comforting for nerds and weirdos about programmes like Children of the Stones and The Changes'." @benfinlay74.bsky.social on these and other curios of kids' TV. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/04/3...

Wonderful!

The mastery of artist Harry Wingfield. ‘Biscuits ’ (Yes, it is a painting - from First Picture Book, 1970)

BREAKING: The House Oversight Committee has voted 24–19 to subpoena Pam Bondi as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Five Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the subpoena.

my local park is full of hundreds of snow sculptures and someone has been adding museum labels

er, is it just me or does this Guardian piece read like it was written by AI www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🤎

In 1997, Tory MP Rupert Allason lost his seat to a Lib Dem by 12 votes. A week before the election he and his team failed to tip waitstaff after having dinner at a restaurant leading to all of them collectively agreeing to vote Lib Dem. That was 14 votes. This is very, very common.

7 March, I’m running a practical morning workshop for folk interested in #playwriting. Blurb through the link- just heard there’s a couple of places left! #writing www.awordinyourear.org.uk/online-writi...

Fascinating discussion today @natcena.bsky.social 's latest British Social Attitudes survey findings on taxation and spending, welfare, immigration, electoral reform, and assisted dying. Read it here: natcen.ac.uk/publications... One thing that struck me... 1/4

Views have become much more polarised along party lines, but even among Conservative/Reform voters only 29% want lower taxes and lower spending. 3/4

Interesting new report from @ipprscotland.bsky.social Focused on Scotland but relevant across the UK in making the case for social security investment. 1. High social spending is compatible with economic success. Evidence shows European countries with high levels...1/4 www.ippr.org/articles/mor...

This is what makes us a great country, right here.

Last night I went to the theatre again… Stoppard, Felicity Kendall and the Empire (not the one in Hackney): www.bristol247.com/culture/thea...

Look, I don't know why Death's selection list has been fucked since Prince, but we're going to need an elite heist team of religious scholars, metaphysicists, occultists and a cat burglar and we're going to go fix this shit.

Last night I went to the theatre again… Stoppard, Felicity Kendall and the Empire (not the one in Hackney): www.bristol247.com/culture/thea...

FAMU can't use the word Black on anything posted around campus related to Black History Month, to stay in compliance with Florida state laws against DEI. Black students can't use the word Black at their Historically Black College during Black History Month.

A loaded day of folk horror film on the horizon, and we'll be announcing our first films for the line-up next week! DARKNESS IN THE FIELDS FILM FESTIVAL is back this March... www.derbyquad.co.uk/events/ditf2... #folkhorror #horror #horrorfilm #horrorfestival #horrorfestival #derby #derbyshire

The 19 Buddhist monks carrying a message of peace made it to Richmond on Monday, the 100th day of their walk from Texas to D.C. The mayor’s office estimated 10,000 people lined the route through the city. https://wapo.st/3NUrWaj

One of my silly guilty pleasures is listening to muzak on YouTube. They tend to have titles like 'A rainy street in Paris' or 'You are sitting in a Gothic library as snow coats the city outside'. But I have just found one called 'You've found shelter in the Nuclear Winter (Post Apocalyptic Ambient)

I liked being in the murk today.

Just a bit of rare blog burble on what this writer's got up to this year. You won't learn anything exciting, win stunning insights, or get rich. gillkirk.com/2025/12/31/a...

London in the good old days - before everyone's feet pointed forwards.

Just a bit of rare blog burble on what this writer's got up to this year. You won't learn anything exciting, win stunning insights, or get rich. gillkirk.com/2025/12/31/a...

youtu.be/iOnymx5eTi8 Cindy Gallop is doing extraordinary things. Let’s usurp porn from its sex education throne-

Disappointingly, my boss is no longer surprised when I come out with things like "I bet you didn't know that British Rail patented a flying saucer, did you?" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...

5. HMRC penalties: the impact on the poor Over the past five years, HMRC have issued around 600,000 late-filing penalties to people too poor to pay any tax. Far more penalties were issued to people too poor to pay tax than to those in the top income deciles: