Still not taken the Christmas tree down.

Dyeing son's hair. Had a tott up and realised it's 35 years since I last did mine. Slightly soul-crushing, but anyway.

Jenrick ... he truly is shameless. A corrupt Vance wannabe. Imagine ending up like that.

While objectively the Jenrick news is of course hilarious, you do have to grudgingly hand it to Badenoch for firm, swift decisiveness that has holed her opponent well beneath the waterline. Jenrick has now been comprehensively sunk.

A colossal scandal breaking. West Midlands police used AI to 'sex up' grounds to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. AI invented a load of stuff. Police went ahead with the ban anyway. Chief Constable of West Midlands now will have to resign for lying about it. Amazing.

@wiwildlife.bsky.social hello, Steve. We would like to use one of your photos in a forthcoming book - would you mind dropping me an email so I can discuss the details with you? It's [email protected]. Thank you.

First day back at school. Numerous crying children at the school gate. I shared their sorrow.

West Ham really are hilariously bad, aren't they. Wolves have scored as many goals in one half as they have points. Both teams doomed to the drop.

Inexplicably, one of the lead stories on the BBC website. Magpie Inkcap is toxic. None of this makes a lick of sense. BBC News - Leicestershire officer committed gross misconduct over mushroom foraging report - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Post-Christmas deep dive into Guinness Book of Records reveals that the world's oldest person, Surrey phenomenon Ethel Caterham, is three YEARS older than anyone else alive. What a woman.

In other news, dreamt I had to re-sit my GCSE Maths. 35 years on, psyche still scarred.

Today I am at the Kent Coast derby - @ramsgatefc.bsky.social v @fifc.bsky.social. missed kick-off due to queues. Ground packed. Programmes long since sold out. Spicy.

Starting to wonder whether the monarchy will survive this.

Looking forward to the full suite of HarperCollins stories starting to bubble out.

Must admit I was astounded to learn that Stanley Baxter was still alive.

HarperCollins eh. What on earth is going on? Some high-level top-brass internecine warfare by the looks of it.

It's fair to say none of our current crop of hapless journeymen would be fit to lace the man's boots. RIP Billy Bonds #whufc

Controversial I know but the Christmas Tree is already up. Elf already sitting on the shelf.

Interesting choice of Yellow Wagtail to illustrate this BBC report. Let's just say it's not a Welsh one. Who fancies IDing to subspecies?

A sudden flurry of excellent book ideas and proposals. The pre-Santa bounce. A reminder of why I enjoy my job.

It is just too cold, wet and horrible outside to go watch football. Will sit by the fire and doom-scroll instead.

Rather shamelessly heading on the tube with an award I collected on someone else's behalf at a ceremony earlier. Fun to see people clock the award, then try to figure out if I'm famous. Bad luck, fuckers. 10/10, would recommend.

@sophiepavs.bsky.social from this week's Beano.

We are watching K-Pop Demon Hunters.

It is genuinely amazing just how much work I can get done – and how much happier I feel as a result – when I can get on with some actual work and not be in sat in meetings all day.

I will be limping in to work tomorrow. Pulled a muscle in my arse clambering through the softplay. Tough times.

Forced to go inside the giant soft-play ziggurat. Failed to stretch beforehand. Serious muscle strain the inevitable result.

Wild that Picador have restoked the Kate Clanchy affair (see @thebookseller.com). Why? This pandemic-era fiasco was basically forgotten.

Waiting for a train at Waterloo means time spent in @foyles picking holes in the output of rival publishers. A rare joy.

I've tried to like this. I really have. The subject is something I'm really interested in. But the author is just too boasty-humble braggy, and I've had to knock it on the head. His editors haven't done him any favours here.

This Friday, 7pm Halloween night, Bev the Haunted Doll and I will be at Waterstones Aberystwyth to talk about Ghosted. Will anyone be brave enough to shake her little haunted hand? 👻 Tickets and info: www.waterstones.com/events/alice...

Telling scary stories around the campfire to young people: "...and you had no way of knowing who was calling. You just had to pick it up." "...co...couldn't you put it on silent?" "There was no silent. And anyone in the house could answer. Even if the call was for you."

Today I'm trapped in a Welsh airbnb with no heating. The curse of the 'smart' thermostat. Sat in my coat under a duvet. A long and difficult night ahead.

I'm trapped at London Waterloo. Trains are few on a Sunday. There are worse places to be stuck. The pub 'The Victory' is really very nice and the football's on.

I am on my second Yakult of the day. #NewScientistLive doing its bit for gut health. Currently learning about witness mis-remembering with @ciaragreene.bsky.social and @gillian-murphy.bsky.social

Back at New Scientist Live this morning. @helenczerski.bsky.social on earth energetics is a good way to start the day.

Main learning of the day: Gravity isn't a force. Got told this three times in three talks by three professors, so I am guessing it's true. Did everyone know this but me? Must up my physics game. #NewScientistLive

Final talk of the day at #NewScientistLive. I have drunk a lot of Yakult. Bought a book about fermentation. Handful of book ideas. Doze on the train home to come.

Busy at #NewScientistLive. Gravitational waves first thing, and now it's the gut/brain connection. Yakult is sponsoring. Lots of free Yakult. I am expecting a first-class gut lining by teatime.

I am at the Excel centre for New Scientist Live. National Wedding Show is next door, and the other side is MUSICAL-CON. Which looks a lot of fun. Much cosplaying. I'm cosplaying for New Scientist as Peter Higgs.

My favourite news story of the decade to date. #trains #time #GBR www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I do quite like a bit of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Why look: a box of some sort of newish, bookish things arrived this morning. Seems to be about spinosaurid #dinosaurs... coauthored with @davehone.bsky.social... and published by Bloomsbury. Available 6th of November In the UK; then worldwide in early 2026.

This has inexplicably made it into paperback. 70th on the Sunday Times hardback list now constitutes a 'best-seller'. Intriguing.

Today I'm at Moneyfields v Horndean in the Isthmian League. Moneyfields is a suburb of Portsmouth. A lot of England flags and Union Jacks on lamp-posts. Not, I suspect, in a good way.

Today's amazing fact: in Costa Rica they don't have street names or house numbers. So if you want to send something you have to give a vague set of directions in the right town. I'll be honest, I am not optimistic my package is going to arrive.

I may not know much, but that this subtitle somehow got approved is troubling.

Hats off to staff at @foylesforbooks.bsky.social for this pleasingly subversive piece of book placement.

@timsmedley.bsky.social yeah OK. (I am in Foyles BTW)

Realised today that I have never knowingly been for drinks with an agent. This is a lapse. All the real trade publishers do it. I am clearly off the pace here.