New music from Alex the Astronaut...

One of my students is conducting a survey about the reading habits of children from the perspective of adults, be it parents, teachers etc. If you read to children, or have children who read, and are up for a short survey, that would be great. And do please spread the word if you can. Thank you!

A great find indeed. I once had lunch with Peter and Joan Firmin. She made soup, which I ate in the kitchen shown in picture 11. And 'Detached Kentish Barn' in the estate agent listing should read: 'The place where Bagpuss and The Clangers were filmed'.

It is the most wonderful time of the year. I am about to browse my shelves to choose some books to take on holiday.

One of my students is conducting a survey about the reading habits of children from the perspective of adults, be it parents, teachers etc. If you read to children, or have children who read, and are up for a short survey, that would be great. And do please spread the word if you can. Thank you!

New Beth Orton music incoming...

Not sure 'Sport has the power to unite' is really the line to take ahead of the Kostyuk/Andreeva match, to be honest. TNT Sports not reading the room there.

I did not know that Whispering Bob Harris co-founded Time Out.

I'm eating breakfast in a London restaurant. They're playing Ben by Michael Jackson, a soppy ballad about a killer rat sung by a future child abuser. Good morning!

My son quoted in this Guardian piece on 'fricy', which is the new culinary trend, apparently.

Obsession has quite intrusive sound design that actually works with the movie's vibe quite well, but it did mean I was unable to hear the key line of dialogue that sets the whole plot in motion. It's actually much clearer in this trailer – the wish the central character makes.

Guys, guys, new Fenne Lily music!

A heads up for tennis fans. Tickets for Wimbledon qualifying are now on sale. Only £20. Great day out.

What we hope is the final manuscript for Literary Dogs, coming next year from Bodleian Library Publishing, has been handed over to our editor. In the acknowledgements, I thank Monika at my local bakery, the person who asked me most often how the book was going while I was writing it.

I’m selling signed, personalised editions of The Umbrella Man and Other Stories. I’ve done this for Father’s Day (21st June) but you can use it for anything you want. Just fill out the form and insert your message. I’ll add it, sign it, and send the book to you docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I admire what Oleksandra Oliynykova is doing with her platform. She is taking no shit from anyone and also playing some great tennis.

I think it's a bit rich for BBC Sport to be leading with articles like this when their coverage of the tennis tour is pitifully lacking. They tend to publish more opinion pieces than actual tennis results and news coverage. Anyway, the answer is no – they're on completely different surfaces.

I see that Nina Protocol is shutting down. It was a sort of slightly quirkier version of Bandcamp but I found the feed and discovery tools rather awkward and despite giving it a go for a few weeks it was just too frustrating and hit and miss, so I am not overly surprised. A shame though.

Love how TNTSports insist on playing the same two adverts between every change of ends in the tennis and then can't actually fill the ad slot so leave a holding page for the last five seconds. Very happy to be paying them for this sort of attention detail. Great experience.

New Francis of Delirium album is out today. 100% guaranteed to be the best band from Luxembourg you've ever heard.

Generally I try not to read political essays written by war criminals.

When you have a first round match at Roland Garros in the afternoon, but Strictly Come Dancing straight after.

Paddington 4: The Pearly Gates

BAD NEWS: I have to travel into central London later today. GOOD NEWS: It is to see Rickie Lee Jones at the Barbican.

I'm not quite sure what I made of The Testament of Ann Lee. It looks and sounds great, and it's certainly interesting, but the way it's made and presented meant it was hard for me to engage with it.

Gael Monfils is contractually obliged to play five set matches at Roland Garros, I believe.

Converting to Catholicism so I can tell my bosses using unregulated AI is against my religion and I will sue them like that cake lady who hated gay people if they make me use it

My wife met up with a friend for coffee this morning. The friend was raving about a wonderful book she'd just finished. A book that restored her faith in humanity during these rather unpleasant times. That book, some of you will probably guess, was Leonard & Hungry Paul by @ronanhession.bsky.social.

Song of the Saltings is coming to the UK in July with Guppy Books! Cover by James Fraser and cool trailer by @jonathanking.bsky.social (it helps to have a horror film director for a brother). More info here: www.rachael-king.com/song-of-the-... #kidlituk #ukkidlit #folkhorror #YA

After a couple of months of research reading, @hannahmarsh.bsky.social's debut novel, It's a Bit More Complicated Than That, was the perfect way to get back into reading for pleasure. Technically YA but also a great story of broken friendships and first loves. Devoured it in a day.

Check out this fabulous poster my mother-in-law just discovered in her loft 🤩

I have just reached the end of a period of intensive, and not always fun, research reading. I now find myself able to read for pleasure over a long weekend where it will be too hot to leave the house. Deep joy.

I want to mention something nice that happened to me today, in part to document, for my own sake, that good things still happen in this horrible world. It involves the London Underground, an escalator, a small boy and some rubber ducks.

The Christophers was sort of... fine. Strong central performances. Interesting story. Didn't really elevate beyond reasonably entertaining though. Had the feel of a BBC2 90-min drama from back in the day. It's also fresh proof that every film could be improved by removing James Corden from it.

The restored version of The Misfits has a new trailer.

Not sure the BBC has picked up on the most alarming part of this memo. The 'sophisticated countries' quote is notable but, ahem...

I once saw Michael Keating play Eddie in A View From The Bridge at the Palace Theatre in Westcliff-on-Sea. It would have been 1991, I think. Olivia Williams was Catherine and Nigel Pivaro (Terry Duckworth from Coronation Street) was Marco. Wishing him a peaceful voyage into the afterlife.

Blondshell tickets purchased for December.

Fittingly, perhaps, this has been the longest drawn-out ending since that Lord of the Rings movie. Also, the fact that his peers are all middle-aged white men who dress the same suggests that maybe losing one of these shows is not the end of the world.

I was briefly excited by the idea that Rosamund Pike is in a new comedy movie, but then I found out who her co-star was and I realised I can probably never watch it. It's Sacha Baron Cohen. He's a notorious cunt.

Eva Lys's comment beneath this Marta Kostyuk Instagram post has had me chuckling for quite a while.

Maybe holding a World Cup in a fascist nation that regularly murders its own citizens and seems to want to deport anyone who doesn't have Aryan features AND THEN pricing the tickets so only extremely rich people can attend wasn't the best idea after all. I'm no expert though.

Brilliantly edited, too, I hear. Father's Day is not too far off, I believe. This would make an excellent gift. Great for Mother's Day too, but too late for that.

I wasn't expecting quite so much Clement Freud during Paul McCartney's SNL appearance, to be honest.

Lots are sharing this with annoyance, and rightly so. I mentioned this before, but a few weeks ago I moved from Chrome to Vivaldi, and I am not regretting it. In fact, it's a much better browser with loads more functionality. The only thing it's not great at is maps. Apart from that, I'm delighted.

I really like Things I Left Behind, the debut album by Joni, but I'm not sure she's helping herself by performing under that name. There's no surname, and if you just Google 'Joni', you have to get through an awful lot of Joni Mitchell and other Jonis before you get to her.

Relearning to Read ebook now available Eight months after the launch of the paperback of Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-knowing, the ebook edition has hit the virtual shelves. It’s been lovely and humbling to see responses to the book so far. Prospect magazine called it ‘a genius move… In…

My Eurovision cartoon for the @irishexaminer.bsky.social.

Beth Ditto is absolutely killing it on 6 Music today. I am sorting out a room after redecorating and about to reload the bookshelves and she is providing the perfect soundtrack. Talking Heads, B-52s, Sinead O'Connor, Violent Femmes, Martha and the Muffins...

Anyone who voted for White Teeth as one of the greatest novels of all time has clearly not read it recently or, at least, forgotten how bad the last quarter of it is.