US foreign policy

Fire on the hemisphere below www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARq...

Watching the classic 1983 #ThinLizzy Sight and Sound in Concert on BBC4. I recently reread @graemethomson.bsky.social's excellent #PhilLynott bio 'Cowboy Song', reduced to tears by the lamentable end of this extraordinary, gifted man. Still, the 'medley of our hit' playing on TV now is immortal. 🙏

Nice to see lots of love for Early Minds™ on the timeline today...

Sleeping it off

Sleeping it off

A braw day in the kingdom

Ahead of the final two playlists for the #SimpleMindsTop30 music challenge, it’s nice to see that the selections aren’t just “the hits”. Perhaps record labels could think beyond those for any future Best Of compilations… 🤔

A braw day in the kingdom

Thanks to Goldmine magazine for calling Behind the Locked Door "the best Harrison bio out there" in their end of '25 Beatles roundup. www.goldminemag.com/collector-re...

Thanks to Goldmine magazine for calling Behind the Locked Door "the best Harrison bio out there" in their end of '25 Beatles roundup. www.goldminemag.com/collector-re...

This is a fine read

Camouflage cat

Me: What day is it, even? David Bowie: It's Monday. Slither down the greasy pipe So far so good no one saw you Hobble over any freeway You will be like your dreams tonight. Me: Cheers Dave

29.12.25 Bedside books: read; reading; to be read

Also David Bowie: Where the fuck did Monday go?

Me: What day is it, even? David Bowie: It's Monday. Slither down the greasy pipe So far so good no one saw you Hobble over any freeway You will be like your dreams tonight. Me: Cheers Dave

Day 29, #3: Speed Your Love To Me Graeme Thomson describes this song perfectly as "the sweet spot between grace and grandiosity". It goes to my head. song.link/y/EjLhWMZXbDU#3: @graemethomson.bsky.social #SimpleMindsTop30

Some local kids write & sell their own newspaper called The Morning Moustache every few months. Last edition, I wrote a letter to the editor about a fruit & veg safari. This edition, they printed the letter & followed up with some replies from the editorial team. An extremely fun correspondence.

Bardot in bardo

Christmas shenanigans starting to die down. Time to find a quiet corner and enjoy a couple of gifts from Santa's sack 🎅x #BookSky

Vale to Billy Sloan, whose last BBC Scotland radio show is on air as we speak. Few people have done more to further the cause of new Scottish music over the past several decades. Wishing him a speedy return to broadcasting.

Popped into Sandy Bell's on Christmas Eve. I can confidently say it was very likely to be the only bar in the UK on that particular evening where the musicians were playing a cover of Tom Waits's "Jockey Full of Bourbon"...

Popped into Sandy Bell's on Christmas Eve. I can confidently say it was very likely to be the only bar in the UK on that particular evening where the musicians were playing a cover of Tom Waits's "Jockey Full of Bourbon"...

Red sky at night, shopper's delight

Red sky at night, shopper's delight

Sad news about Chris Rea. I had an entertaining lunch with him at the Ivy Garden Chelsea on the day of the Grenfell tower fire - which sounds a bit like the start of a tall tale in Would I Lie To You...

Had to pop over to The App Formerly Known as Twitter to pick up a DM. Felt weird. I stopped posting/looking there in March, but the mass X-odus didn't happen, clearly.

#SimpleMindsTop30 ✨9✨ Theme for Great Cities The opening track from 'Sister Feelings Call'. A companion to these lists I recommend the bio by @graemethomson.bsky.social‬ which 100% gets what it felt like buying the Minds in the 80s and growing up in the West of Scotland.. youtu.be/StHGawXsitE?...

Pop stars say lots of daft things, especially in the early days of their career when they're drunk/unguarded/desperate to make a splash. I still think Costello's 'revenge and guilt' line is one of the most memorable 'manifestos', even if it became something of an albatross. Are there better ones?

PLEASE KEEP SHARING - the press are listening "Dear BBC Radio Scotland, We are musicians from Scotland... there is one thing we share. It was BBC Radio Scotland late-night shows that gave our music a chance." Full letter: tr.ee/9uKS89 @angusrobertson.bsky.social @thesmia.bsky.social

I don't know much, but I do know that you'll be doing well in this life to find someone who loves you the way Mark Hollis loved Mark Feltham's harmonica playing www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfvj...

I don't know much, but I do know that you'll be doing well in this life to find someone who loves you the way Mark Hollis loved Mark Feltham's harmonica playing www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfvj...

Such a deeply unserious country... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Aside from all the other aspects of his creativity and personality (and persona), birthday boy Keith Richards is a great, great songwriter. Proud to share a writing credit (kind of) with the old devil.

Aside from all the other aspects of his creativity and personality (and persona), birthday boy Keith Richards is a great, great songwriter. Proud to share a writing credit (kind of) with the old devil.

I'm a state school educated Scotsman so cricket isn't really my area of expertise, but I've always found it a bit weird that out of 11 players in any team/nation, seemingly 5 of them can't really bat.

‘Our Secrets Are The Same’, the joint memoir by Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill with Graeme Thomson, has been named a Rough Trade and Uncut Book of the Year 2025. Order your copy of #OurSecretsAreTheSame via the link below: www.simpleminds.com/our-secrets-...

Watched The Salt Path doc. Met a few 'Moths' in my time. A very particular type of shark. The cravat, the hair and the wise, beatific smile are dead giveaways.

Watched The Salt Path doc. Met a few 'Moths' in my time. A very particular type of shark. The cravat, the hair and the wise, beatific smile are dead giveaways.