Still a way to go but I can't believe only 15 of you are coming to this so far. If this ends up like Ghost Signs where everyone flakes out an an anticipated packed house of 60 ends up being barely double figures there's gonna be trouble at t'mill 😂 www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...

Mark Ronson’s memoir is a hoot. He makes 90s NYC sound even more exciting than 90s London. My review for this week’s @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/lives/autobi...

And here it is: the SEND reform plan, and why - for all its good intentions - it threatens a terrifying loss of rights, just when the worst imaginable govt might be newly in power www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Come gentle spring, come at winter's end.' Released 40 years ago today.

Latest from me: on the govt's imminent Special Needs revolution, and a familiar (old) Labour story: of lofty aims undermined by meagre budgets, constant anonymous briefings – and a drive to remove families’ basic rights www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The first episode of Bagpuss was originally broadcast on this day in 1974. Created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, the series ran for just 13 episodes (with voices provided by Postgate, Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner).

Happy publication day to the deep, dark, beautiful ride that is Keshed by Stu Hennigan. We’re incredibly proud to be publishing this bold, uncompromising novel. Congratulations @stuhennigan.bsky.social, and thanks to @turnarounduk.bsky.social, Jack Smyth, Tom and Jaime Witcomb and Alex Billington.

Another SEND move today. The brilliant @spcialndsjungle.bsky.social has what you need to know www.specialneedsjungle.com/inclusion-ba...

New episode up now. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, with guest Doctor Rowan Williams. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/257...

Latest from me on Substack (it's free!) maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/what-does-...

Blood on the tracks. Great stuff from @iammilliam.bsky.social

A late-January Substack essay from me. Read In Plain Sight: The Dark Side of the 70s for FREE here: judecook.substack.com/p/in-plain-s...

Penultimate new episode up now. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch, with guest Ian Patterson in Socratic dialogue with @unamccormack.bsky.social Nicky Birch and me. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/256...

I wrote about John Davidson’s moving, courageous memoir 'I Swear: My Life With Tourette’s' for this week’s TLS. @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/lives/autobi...

From the i's well-briefed breakdown of SEND changes: our increasingly nuanced, complex understanding of psychology & child development reduced to four "tiers" with an ejector-seat fifth that will seemingly involve actual rights. Humanity carved up by bureaucracy: No-one will like this system

If any journalists are covering the mounting controversy/briefing war about SEND changes, pls remember that the current system goes up to the age of 25. Abs no mention of this so far, which terrifies many people (inc me)

Latest from me on (free!) Substack: on the eve of drastic change, whether the govt likes it or not, the SEND debate is getting nastier... we're back to the national sport of seeing people's needs, and branding them cheats maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/whether-th...

Who wants to #GetKeshed with me and @judecook.bsky.social at Bard Books in London on 12th March? Cos tix are onsale as of this afternoon 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...

A new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, discover Comus and the musical death trip of scythechedelia, support the podcast. This week: Comus, First Utterance (1971) www.patreon.com/backlisted

In the build-up to the government's watershed changes to Special Needs education, there's one place you can find in-depth commentary/coverage: my (free) Substack, Maybe I'm Amazed. New post is a long read, out Thursday. Subscribe here open.substack.com/pub/maybeima... #autism #send

New episode up now. Jake Thackray: The Unsung Writer, with guests Paul Thompson and Andrew Male in conversation with Andy Miller and Una McCormack. @jakethackrayfan.bsky.social @andrewmale.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social www.backlisted.fm/episodes/255...

6th Jan 1979 - Kevin Cummins took photos of Joy Division in a wintry Manchester. I loved investigating the story davehaslam.substack.com/p/ian-curtis... From a Wimpy Bar in Bradford, then to a wedding, a club called the ‘Glory Hole’, a sculpture called Alice, and an old mill near a river.

Whatever line the govt takes, if you want to sample the great cloud of misapprehension and false argument swirling around changes to the SEND system, check out this Times editorial - a prime example of "overdiagnosis" as the bollocksome catch-all explanation for abs. everything archive.is/PZU8b

This on the ongoing SEND mess, by @catrionamoore.bsky.social, is a must-read www.specialneedsjungle.com/leaks-denial...

Very happy that @tamarindlit.co.uk have run my short story 'Progresso' in their excellent new issue #9. Many thanks to @anitamchandran.bsky.social. Download the digital copy or buy the print edition here: tamarindlit.co.uk

A final Substack essay for 2025 from me. Read The Golden World: Do Politics and Fiction Mix? for FREE here: judecook.substack.com/p/the-golden... Happy New Year!

A special New Year's Day INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, hit 2026 running with Pulp, Dog Day Afternoon and The Fallen Women, support the podcast. This week: Jarvis Cocker, 'The Loss Adjuster'. www.patreon.com/backlisted

New Christmas episode up now! Asterix and the Roman Agent - and LOADS more Asterix books - with Louie Stowell, Robert Shearman, Una McCormack & Andy Miller. 🎄📚🎅 @robertshearman.bsky.social @louiestowell.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/6mIn...

As is traditional, here's the 2017 Xmas @backlisted.bsky.social in which @iammilliam.bsky.social @johnmitchinson.bsky.social @jamesbpcook.bsky.social and I talk about OHMSS & all things Bond. Happy Christmas one and all. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/56-...

A wintry new INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, learn all about the greatest Christmas single that never was, support the podcast. This week: Twice As Much & Vashti, 'The Coldest Night of the Year'. ❄️ www.patreon.com/backlisted

I chose Yann Chateigné Tytelman's terrific book, Blackout (tr. @clementoctober.bsky.social), for Review31's Books of the Year 2025. @review31.bsky.social @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social

Some of my recent books, bendable for placement inside stockings — available in the usual ways, but links are @ www.danobrien.org @acrebooks.bsky.social @dalkeyarchive.bsky.social @cbeditions.bsky.social @poetrylondon.bsky.social @calquepress.bsky.social

Columnists! People who make videos of their own heads! Do you know nothing about autism & its complexity? Never read a word about it, but seen something about SEND reform and what Badenoch/Tice said the other day? Top tip: Just sound off about "overdiagnosis" and get another week's beer money

New Substack post from me... it's free, so subscribe if you fancy it maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/thank-you-...

A new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, receive moral instruction from the gingerilliant Countess of MAT, support the podcast. This week: CMAT, Euro-Country. www.patreon.com/backlisted

A late-November Substack essay from me: I wrote about creative inspiration in music and writing. Read Catch a Fire: That Michelangelo Moment for FREE here 👇: judecook.substack.com/p/catch-a-fire

Lindsay Anderson and Shelagh Delaney's 1967 short, The White Bus, is currently available for free on Prime. It's credited as being from 1979 but don't let that fool you. Devised as both allegory and satire, it's curious how much of it still feels relevant to the noise of the 21st Century.

A new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, read about the Clientele and the ‘suburban uncanny’, support the podcast. @theclientele.bsky.social This week: God Save the Clientele. www.patreon.com/backlisted

Delighted to announce that MALC’S BOY by Shaun Wilson will be @conduitbooks.bsky.social’s first title! Coming April 2026.

New episode up now. Last and First Men (1930) by Olaf Stapledon, with guest Matthew De Abaitua in conversation with Andy Miller and Una McCormack. @mdeabaitua.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social www.backlisted.fm/episodes/253...

In my corner of the bass-playing universe there was life pre- and post-Mani. He brought a liquid, melodic funkiness that EVERYONE copied. And when I finally met him he was exactly how you imagined him: joyful, generous, unstarry (& more of a star because of it) and wickedly funny. A life well lived

'Winterson’s verbal exuberance is both playful and deadly serious; she has the intensity of someone who is demolishing you at chess while maintaining that it’s only a game.' Suzi Feay: A riff on One Thousand and One Nights

Join us tonight at @burleyfisher.bsky.social for the London launch of Vanguard Editions The Carbon Arc. I'll be reading along with brilliant writers @christianaspens.bsky.social Sam Mills, Karen Krizanovich & Gareth Evans. 6.30pm-9pm (Free) Tickets here: burleyfisherbooks.com/products/lau...

We were shocked and saddened to read that Rachel Cooke had died. She championed Michèle Roberts' work, and her take on French Cooking for One proposed the book to the bestsellers sphere. We remember her exemplary, fearless originality and generous spirit. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Can’t go to this tomorrow night, alas, but it should be excellent. Blackout is one of the books of the year, a sui generis journey into silence, mixing memoir, philosophy & art criticism.

Here’s my review of @andrewgallix.bsky.social’s wonderfully irreverent debut novel, Loren Ipsum, in the print edition of today’s @theguardian.com

A new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, learn about the greatest song you’ve probably never heard of, support the podcast. This week: Clearlake, ‘I Want to Live in a Dream’. www.patreon.com/backlisted

Loren Ipsum is, by a wide margin, the most enjoyable novel I've read all year. Here's my review of @andrewgallix.bsky.social's mordantly witty debut in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

My old band Flamingoes is in this month’s Mojo magazine. ‘Flamingoes and Fountains of Wayne share a taste for Superman/ rabbit mash-ups’. #Therecordisforeverman @mojomagazine.bsky.social @keithcameron2.bsky.social