An excellent newsletter, essential for #AgathaChristie fans!

🚨 Amelia King, volunteering for the Women's Land Army in 1943, was rejected by Essex farmers. This week's Substack post on John Scurr House in Stepney looks at the racial discrimination suffered by residents and its later redevelopment. municipaldreams.substack.com/p/john-scurr...

BOO! NEW PODCAST! It's our Hallowe'en special 2025... or should that be 1969...? Or 1947...? Hop aboard your broomsticks for a very special ep: pod.fo/e/3448f0 #AgathaChristie #HalloweenParty #AHauntinginVenice

Next month, the Seagull Amateurs, my local theatre company, is staging a play I wrote! Seeing the cast in character is really special.

BOO! Our now-traditional Hallowe'en special will drop 2 WEEKS TODAY! Set your watches/broomsticks* for Sunday 26 October 💃🏻💃🏻🎃 *and they better be decorated (Hallowe'en Party in-joke) Catch up before then: podfollow.com/the-swinging...

Happy birthday to much loved Agatha Christie born #OTD 1890 in Torquay, Devon

Huge thank you & congratulations to @goldenagemysteries.bsky.social @michellekazmer.bsky.social @aspaceofonesown.bsky.social @stefanoserafini.bsky.social @jcbernthal.com for organising another fantastic Golden Age Conference with outstanding speakers, fascinating topics, had utterly delightful time

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Young People’s Mystery Story Writing Competition Thank you to @redbreastedbird.bsky.social for presenting the prizes @librariesunlimited.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social #torreabbey @literatureworks.bsky.social www.iacf-uk.org/news/winners...

We are extremely lucky to kick off day two with our amazing keynote! The amazing @thehistorygirl1.bsky.social discussing Golden Age Detective Fiction as War Fiction. 🕵🏻‍♀️🔪✨ #GoldenAgeDetectiveFiction @stefanoserafini.bsky.social @jcbernthal.com @tinahodgkinson.bsky.social @carolinederry.bsky.social

This has been an exciting week, and is ending with the fantastic @goldenagemysteries.bsky.social conference. So many exciting papers today, and so many to come tomorrow!

Kicking us off this afternoon, Charlotte Beyer with an amazing paper on ‘The Immigrant Woman as Traumatised Other’! 🕵🏻‍♀️✨ Always such pleasure to hear her papers!

Such a fabulous first day with so many engaging speakers with such interesting papers on diverse aspects of the Golden Age of Crime Fiction, thank you to all who spoke amd to our wonderful organisers ~ bring on day two

This is lovely - Visitors take a shine to Agatha Christie and her beloved dog www.middevonadvertiser.co.uk/news/visitor...

Congratulations Martin, looking forward to this so much

📖 HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY to Martin Edwards buff.ly/bFCK2Pr with 'Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife'!

I’m so excited that, in 2 days, we are launching both Silent Echoes, a golden age crime conference and Ten Little Mysteries, a book of new fiction inspired by the Golden Age. Get a sneak preview of the introduction here: jcbernthal.com/2025/09/07/c...

Starting tonight, a new 4 part series The Orient Express: A Golden Era of Travel on More4 at 9pm. Delighted to have been involved in the project discussing Agatha Christie www.channel4.com/programmes/t...

The Christie Catch-Up: August/September 2025 open.substack.com/pub/christie...

Excited to invite you to the launch of Legal History in the Curriculum: Comparative Perspectives, Critical Approaches and Future Directions. Hear from contributors on how and why to teach it, and its subversive potential! 6pm, Monday 8 Sept, online. Booking: forms.office.com/e/VFgwKs9iHM

Your absence will go on forever... ❤️

One of only six in the world ✍️ This is William Shakespeare’s signature on the deed of a house he bought in Blackfriars in 1613, now on display at The London Archives. Join our talk to uncover the story behind this rare document: 📍 In-person and online 📅 11th September 🎟️https://buff.ly/CalUb7r

It's been a year being The London Archives🥳 What an amazing year we've had! Thank you to everyone who has supported us, we couldn't have got this far without you❤️ p.s. it's not just you, its the staff too 😉 #TheLondonArchives #1yearanniversary #archives

In partnership with @librariesunlimited.bsky.social our 1st Christie for Kids Day is on Sat 13th Sept at Paignton Library. With bestselling children’s authors Robin Stevens & Abie Longstaff @redbreastedbird.bsky.social @abielongstaff.bsky.social Free but pls register www.iacf-uk.org/festival-202...

Congratulations to Festival Friend, Dr Jamie Bernthal-Hooker on this wonderful achievement! He can now add prize-winning author to his list of talents! Jamie is speaking at this year's Festival, and there are some tickets still available: www.iacf-uk.org/festival-202...

Congratulations Jamie, I'm so happy for you

Very excited that Legal History in the Curriculum is now published! It brings together amazing contributors from around the world, looking at how and why to teach legal history. Special thanks to @sandbergrlaw.bsky.social - contributor, series editor, and more!

“The removal of an entire clause of the bill means there will be no immediate changes to Pip. The Timms review will be “co-produced” with disabled people, leaving open the possibility that they will never happen,” reports @pippacrerar.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tonight’s huge climbdown is testament to the countless disabled people who have tirelessly fought these cuts. Yes, UC was a loss and there’s more to do on PIP, but let’s not underplay this: a government with a vast majority has been forced to u-turn. Because of the disabled community.

NEW FROM ME - Britain is abandoning international medical consensus on disability. Every other developed nation recognizes cumulative impairment as genuine severity. We're about to become an anomaly—and the logic of 4+ suggests it was deliberate. tinyurl.com/mwwb5xv4

DWP “Thatcherite” welfare cuts condemned in scathing report by disabled people "We’ve gone beyond co-production – disabled people must run the DWP" is the verdict of a sweeping and scathing response to the government www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

Five reasons why MPs must vote against Labour's DWP Bill As new details of DWP reforms emerge, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation outlines what MPs would be supporting if they vote for the Bill www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025...

Today Govt confirmed changes it will make to planned cuts to disability benefits. But Govt will still ask MPs to vote for large, arbitrary cuts to disabled people’s incomes that will increase poverty. The Bill should be opposed. Here’s why. 1/7

If you’re free from pain and gifted with energy, ask how you can help share some of the load. Email your MP! Use a subject banner e.g. ‘Please VOTE AGAINST the Welfare Bill’ as this close, MP offices will likely scan the inbox. Ask friends in Labour seats to do same. Your help matters. 2/2

I’m always pro-disabled people leading what affects them but the reality is, many disabled and chronically ill people are paying a huge physical price for fighting tomorrow’s welfare bill. Many are suffering more pain and exhaustion from campaigning, all whilst in a brutal heatwave. 1/2

QUICKEST U-TURN IN HISTORY.

NEW: Liz Kendall has told MPs that if a disabled person currently on PIP requests a reassessment after November 2026 because of worsening health, they will be assessed on the new tougher criteria. This confirms The Guardian’s report that those with fluctuating conditions will not be protected.

Happy National Cream Tea Day! Agatha Christie loved cream teas and there are several opportunities to enjoy one over the Festival. Just remember, we are in Devon, so it's cream then jam... www.iacf-uk.org/festival-202...

Pont Street, Knightsbridge: Where Agatha Christie set scenes, Waugh mocked the elite, and Oscar Wilde got arrested. Featured in: • Brideshead Revisited • The Secret of Chimneys • Love in a Cold Climate • Wodehouse, Betjeman & more. Not just a street—literary legend.

To any MP reading this, disability benefit cuts, the sham "consultation" did not allow disabled people to say how the changes would impact on us, DPO were not part of the process, the only voice DP have for the bill is via MPs, pls reject a 2 tier system, disability is not a club we choose to join

Disabled people are not a political deal. As these back-room conversations happen, has anyone thought of the Disabled people whose lives will be impacted? The Government is still attempting to slash billions of pounds from a system that doesn't provide enough support as it is.

No concessions - stand your ground! Keep up the pressure and tell your MP that we will not condemn future claimants to poverty. Protecting current levels of UC and PIP is right for current claimants, and it's right for future claimants too. Full statement: buff.ly/SB1oITz

'The hefty cut to health-related support, around 50%, will remain in place for new claimants. A dramatic rise in poverty is inevitable.' Read our Handbook Editor's breakdown of the Government's concessions - and why killing the bill is the only option. www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/dr-uk-h...

Why don't we support the Government's concessions on benefit cuts? Because: Benefits are already so low that 27% of UK working-age Disabled people live in poverty. Future claimants will face the same high costs as we do. Tell your MP to vote against the bill in full: buff.ly/IIXwKuO

Fifteen titles in fifteen months . . . what more can one say about The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? Well, you know how much I love to talk . . . ahsweetmystery.com/2025/06/21/t...

We are at the other end of this cycle. It is #Midsummer. Today we have 12 hours and 19 minutes more daylight than we had on the 21st December. In #Orkney today we have 18 hours and 29 minutes of daylight. The sun rose at 3.58am and will set at 10.28pm. #SummerSolstice

Thrilled and delighted to visit @orkneylibrary.bsky.social today, The London Archives, where I work, are huge fans of their social media content, so just had to pop in and say hello, lovely friendly welcome plus highlight of my holiday in Orkney seeing and sitting on those famous balls

Was lovely to speak to Kemper at All About Agatha about the research that went into the new #AgathaChristie BBC Maestro course. Hopefully it'll provide some insight: open.spotify.com/episode/0gLj...

We are sold out! 😱 Thanks to everyone who has bought a ticket. We can’t wait to see you there.

The number of broken lifts on the UK rail network is appalling. For many disabled people it can turn our straightforward (ish!) journey into a convoluted nightmare.

Huge thank you to the wonderful @clairelouisetitley.bsky.social for a thrilling The London Archives book group discussion last night on Agatha Christie’s At Bertram's Hotel, so joyful to hear other readers' interpretations of the novel and so many positive comments about Agatha's plot and setting