As Van Morrison's 80th birthday is TODAY! here's one last wee plug (*honestly*) for this new piece I wrote about him for @thequietus.com... #VanMorrison

Fr David Gierlach

Dear old school Republicans, when will the line between ‘I don’t like this’ and ‘I’m going to stop this’ going to be crossed? Asking for a friend.

My dearest wife, It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee in their camps, where loud ukulele songs of resistance even now drift in on the breeze.

Entire uninterrupted version youtu.be/rfUEstWJUkA?...

They’re eating the swans, they’re eating the carp 🤣 😆 😂 Summary of the Royal Parks response: No, they’re not you weirdo. news.sky.com/story/royal-...

I love publication day! Congratulations to Colette Snowden as we publish and launch her new novel: CELESTE at Chorlton Library tonight at 7pm. Many thanks to @chorltonbookshop.bsky.social and @manclibraries.bsky.social for organising too. @thebookseller.com

@godswrath699.bsky.social My take on "Today's Rapture" (and Empathy) bsky.app/profile/kevt...

Well, I made myself listen to Trump’s speech in full. While full of boasts, distortions, disgusting attacks on Biden, weird asides about the mayor of London, National Guard in DC, his MAGA hat, and unsubtle hints about wanting the peace prize - there WERE some hard uncomfortable points there too 🧵

An hour in the company of @kitdewaal.com . What a gift. Find the full recording of our conversation on Substack at The Literary Obsessive, and while you’re at it, subscribe to Writing Kit.

After wandering through 60 towns across Europe and visiting 2 music festivals (where he discovered a liking for heavy metal) Emil the Elk has been relocated to a forest on the Czech border. We can only hope that he found what he was looking for. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Co-Op, Jaguar, Royal Mail, Airports, Marks and Spencer’s, The British Library, Hospitals These cyber attacks have cost millions and even lives in the UK. Yet the coverage and outrage is weirdly limited www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Farage wants to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain – even for people who’ve lived, worked and built lives here for years. It’s not policy, it’s cruelty. Read the Bear’s analysis ⤵️

The clock is ticking.

“The King’s Speech was superb: holding the line on disagreements without being argumentative, flattering without being unctuous. Then Trump gets up to respond and essentially reads out what I think might have been the Wikipedia page for the UK.”

My wonderful friend’s book will be released by Chicken House next year and is already ‘killing it’ in the pre sale charts. It’s not just a pretty cover. www.chickenhousebooks.com/wp-content/u...

MY BOOK'S OUT TODAY! books2read.com/MatthewKing Four killers meet for dinner, but what do they find? Friends? Murder?! LOVE?! This Horrormance reveals relatable killers whose amusing banter is playful and thought-provoking, tackling issues like gender identity, discrimination, and feminism.🖤🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈💀

Watch the Dutch kick Disney in their tiny mouse gonads…

This will be called "evidence of consciousness of guilt" in subsequent criminal trials.

Hello, lovelies. Here's the glorious cover for the Sourdough Compendium (Sourdough, Bitterwood Bible, Tallow-Wife). The pre-order links are here titanbooks.com/72850-the-so... but not all work yet due to circumstances beyond my control, but B&N, Waterstones and the 'zon do have preorder pages.

I am a proud Luddite. It’s time to say no to this anti-human AI & gig revolution. Profit should not out way community & the world has already taken more ‘growth’ than it can take. If growth doesn’t serve the people then why should the people serve growth www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Hi...

This is a depressing read. As much as 40% of China’s city workforce are gig workers with no stability in their lives. This should be a warning to us all. www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

Very, very seriously I say unto you: Never, ever carry your lap top around with the charging cable attached. It’s a door handle catching accident waiting to happen. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

I have been saying this for ten years.

This might put off a lot of people but it is a good read for all that believe in kindness. Bart Ehrman was a deep thinking Christian until he became an atheist. There is food for us all in this piece. ehrmanblog.org/the-radical-...

The discovery of a rare gold penguin reminds me of our own rare golden bird - Vinny (a very British bird) edition.cnn.com/2019/07/08/u...

Banksy painting worth millions now washed off. The image, the video of it being removed behind a corrugated barrier and the ghost of an image that remains are now a triptych - more powerful than the original image www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

Striking off a company means its debts are never paid. His partner purchased a £885,000 home in cash. Here she is refusing to pay £11,000 The Sunak's had £600,000,000 and they used this same con to save themselves £300,000. This needs to be stopped.

What utter dickheads we are… Rayner fought for workers: sick pay, maternity rights, protection from unfair dismissal Farage and his MPs voted it down Rayner gets binned over £40k in stamp duty Farage dodges £44k, shrugs & strolls on The mega wealthy win again.

The US will have a lot of awful difficulties to recover from after Trump but pushing India closer into China’s warm embrace will likely prove to be the most consequential. Looks like the end of an empire … might just be the end of an empire.

Border Morris Dancers at the Ross on Wye Cider Festival this weekend. They let me join in - with a stick and everything. Now I’m going to join a local troop. Make Morris Dancing cool again lol

walking_this_way Lise -health wealth purpose for women

Today is zero tolerance on unpaired socks day.

Dog & rabbit made it safely into the UK 😮‍💨. I wasn’t worried about the dog but the rabbit … holy moly! Even the border officers had some difficulty checking & said almost no one ever brings rabbits with them. It’s hard to be a ‘cheap’ pet. i.pinimg.com/236x/d5/26/9...

Say Her Name: Virginia Giuffre Deserved Better www.meidasplus.com/p/say-her-na...

Now that Jasper is on his drive back to the UK there is no one to save me from sneezes! Not sure how this is going to go.

By age 5, children from the poorest families are already behind their wealthier peers – educationally, socially, even in health. Sure Start was designed to break this cycle. It worked. Now it may be coming back. Here’s what we know ⤵️

As has been said before, the root cause of this horror was a misogyny across the whole social world in which these girls found themselves. Much easier to blame it all on a racialised other than face up to that. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

One of my favourite Hozier lines in one of my favourite songs: ‘A voice your body jumps to calling out your name’ It so completely covers that bone level love that one person can have for another. m.youtube.com/watch?v=kpjO...

Japan takes virtually no asylum seekers and has a tiny percentage of foreign residents yet the far right is on the rise. Nationalist sentiments accross the world aren’t based on facts - they are social media made. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The fires in Turkey are horrific. Thinking of everyone over there. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

I love liminal places where earth & water meet so decided to spend my 49th birthday where the seas meet at Skagen. It felt poignant to put a foot in each sea knowing that I’m passing from one half of my life to the other & also soon moving back to the UK api.www.enjoynordjylland.com/sites/enjoyn...

Friends don’t let friends walk by a mushroom without saying “hey look a mushroom”

Listening to Zack Polanski speak I liked him so much that I was thinking I’ll become a Green Party member asap - right up to the moment that he said the UK should leave NATO! No, Zack! No. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Ghislaine has proven that she is willing to do anything to feather her own nest. My prediction: to gain a Trump pardon she will name his political, social & journalistic enemies. They will find themselves hounded, locked up & fighting for survival against new legislation kfoxtv.com/news/nation-...