Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

Wes Streeting prepares to challenge Starmer for leadership.

Just finished a consultancy project I started in February 2023. I’ve been late on it ever since. Constant pressure to work harder and faster for three years and three months. Just ended 30 minutes ago. I am going to the pub now.

This week in @thetimes.com - dogs in pubs, yes or no? 250 comments and not a single one saying how gorgeous Mildrid is! (paywall) www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...

I’m calling Fouracres as the first breakout star from SNL UK. He makes me laugh like a gibbon whenever he’s onscreen.

Is there a better example of the British condition today than booking an advance train where you have to have a mandatory seat reservation in order to board but your mandatory seat reservation doesn’t actually reserve you a seat because the train doesn’t do seat reservations?

Thank you for asking! Scheduled for 2pm for about an hour.

Not quite! The point I made was that the Czechs drink beer far more freely and enthusiastically than we do. But there’s none of the boorish “waheey” culture that we have.

Keep getting emails from DHL that start with WE HAVE YOUR PARCEL in block caps. I always expect the next line to be “If you want to see it again, leave £200,000 in used notes at a location we will reveal. Do not go to the police."

Me talking alcopops with @msmirandasawyer.bsky.social. Ridiculously good fun. I had to give an after-dinner speech after tasting these. That went well.

This is fucking brilliant. You feel cleverer for reading it. In line with the point he’s making, I’ve missed writing like this.

This week in @thetimes.com - beers brewed especially for spring! Most spring ales are cask-only so do check em out in your local - here are a rare few you can buy for home (paywall) www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...

Ooh!

I don’t give a shit how much MPs drink. But these are the same people who tell the rest of us that we must drink less and pass laws to make us do so.

Just catching up on SNL UK. To read some pundits, you’d think Britain didn’t have a decades-long tradition of sketch-based comedy shows where the really shonky bits are worth enduring for the occasional diamond. Ever seen The Two Ronnies anyone?

Got to say I think it’s pretty fucking sinister that Siri is on my MacBook and I am not allowed to delete it even though I never asked for it and do not want it on there. It's MY MacBook!

Just had a press release with the title “Exploring Hybrid Meat.” I’ll pass, thanks.

When I first saw this article this morning, the pic showed a glass of wine, a cigarette, and a plate of junk food in the background. Now that image has been replaced by a pic of people drinking beer. @theguardian.com has a frankly weird, snobby vendetta about beer www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Just converted our spare room into a library. Do not fear me.

Today in @thetimes.com it’s a big one! Wetherspoons: good or bad? Well, it’s a 50-50 mix of both, isn't it? Some good froth in the comments (paywall) www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...

This one is particularly excellent.

Just started writing my 15th book. Which means I have just re-read this book for the 15th time.

Hotels! have you recently decided that, after decades of not requiring people to show photo ID at check-in, you now absolutely insist they do? Yes? Well here’s an idea for you. How about fucking mentioning this at some point between me making my booking and showing up to check in?

Just realised that I have Catholic guilt, a Protestant work ethic, and an atheist’s certainty than none of it matters in the long run.

Just received a press release with the headline, "Newstalgia and swangy flavor trends reshape Gen Z’s food and beverage choices” and was violently sick.

If serious people are even asking that question it’s time to shut the fucker down.

Catching the sun.

“Turner been in?” “Aye, he left this for thee.”

This week I am on a writing retreat to kickstart my next book: The Penguin Book of Beer! A free copy of that book goes (in the distant future) to anyone who can guess where I’m holed up from this photo. (Hope it doesn’t show metadata or I’m fucked).

In this week’s @thetimes.com, the best beers to be had at Lidl. Maybe not the best beers anywhere, and trying to navigate their range is bizarrely difficult, but at these prices there are some very decent bargains to be had (paywall) www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...

Had some statements for books of mine that have earned out (the dream!) so I think it's worth reminding people: if you love an author, seek out her backlist. Ask bookshops to order them if you can. Bookshops these days often won't have older titles, because of space limitations & returns policies🧵

New syllabus extension just dropped: #ContraAI🤖 #GenAI #highereducation #teaching (by Joep Schuurkes)

Wrote this as a presentation for Brewers’ Congress last September. Delilghted to be abe to adapt the powerpoint into an article for @teamdb.bsky.social

What makes a beer premium? www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/04/what... @petebrownbeer.bsky.social @teamdb.bsky.social

Hello Lake District! I’m talking Clubland at the brilliant Armitt in Ambleside, which is running a whole exhibition about the working men’s club and what it meant - and still means. Do come along! Tix available here - www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

That’s it: I’m done with @theguardian.com. The newspaprr i’ve read for my entire adult life has allowed itself to be compromised by Silicon Valley propaganda. Fuck you, techbro schill. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The. Rise. Of. Cognitive. Surrender. Study finds that people who use GenAI chatbots rely on them 80% of the time, and develop almost no capacity to recognize when a chatbot is feeding them faulty information. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Hate this BULLSHIT. Why would authors use something vastly inferior to their own work, which threatens to take away their livelihoods? #NeverAI

Saturday night at the Byker & St. Peters Working Men's Social Club, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1973, photo by Homer Sykes.

Lager is beer.

This week in @thetimes.com I discuss what makes a perfect pub atmosphere and why some pubs get it wrong. Meanwhile in the comments, some bloke reads this and decides I only go to the pub for one pint once a month and expect pubs to survive on that. Yay! (paywall) www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...

Am at #PublicanAwards, a corporate gig hosted this year by Rylan. It is a little known fact that his veneers are so bright they are visible from the Great Wall of China.

Let’s run this up the flagpole and see who salutes it. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Just watched it and I’m going in the plus column. As a beer writer (bear with) I’ve seen how British beer styles are co-opted by the US, get bastardised (in a good way), come back over and take notes. US strategy - British execution. You don't have to choose one. Blended, they're awesome. This time.

Today's your last chance to vote for Cheryl Cade in Visit England’s Tourism Superstar 2026! Please vote for Cheryl - at first I thought she only did brilliant beer tours but she also does loads of stuff about Norfolk. And cheese. Here’s the link visitenglandawards.secure-platform.com/tourismsuper...