This doc, opening at DCTV in Tribeca this weekend, is an absolute banger and a must-see: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/m...

This. God, this. It is such a manufactured panic and it started the moment they lost the fight over gay marriage. Support trans rights because it’s the right thing to do and also because this is all just a fascist push

New immigration stats are out. Firstly, we've seen a decline in net migration of 48%, 171,000, compared to 331,000 for the previous year. This has some fairly serious, mainly negative, implications, even before Labour's draconian anti-immigration policies kick in. 1/18 www.gov.uk/government/s...

⚠️⚠️⚠️Publication Day! 'The Fate of the World' by Bill McGuire Folks- this is a must read! @profbillmcguire.bsky.social climatewithbrian.com/2026/05/03/r...

It's publication day for my memoirs! It’s in the shops and if you want signed copies mail order from here… membranes.bandcamp.com/merch/john-r...

Stop! It is necessary for you to see graphic designer extraordinaire Margaret Calvert’s 90th birthday cake. Perfection.

Today marks five years since my dear friend Matt Dibble died, from complications following the AstraZeneca covid vaccine. He was only 40, but an incredibly accomplished sax, clarinet, piano and various other instrument player, and a really lovely guy.

We're holding a meet up in London on 1st July. It doesn't matter if you're an author, broadcaster, tour guide or general hustler, you're more than welcome as long as you work in history and aren't part of academia (sorry lovely academics!) DM us for location as places are limited!

Very pleased to see finished copies today of @profbillmcguire.bsky.social's THE FATE OF THE WORLD, the first of the books I commissioned for HarperNorth in the summer last year - and edited as a freelancer since.

It's David Attenborough's world, we're just watching it www.ft.com/content/82b3...

Just to clarify. You're not sharing it because you think someone you follow might need it. It's to send Google 'a signal' that it's a good resource. I hate it but if it ranks in the top 1 or 2 again many more thousands of people will read this inclusive, critical, biopsychosocial guide each day

Voted @greenparty.org.uk on Hope St this morning in Hebden - surely a positive sign...

It's arrived 😊 The #FOTW out two weeks today

Kinda tired of the "historians will say they're close friends" meme. Babe, we've been screaming about how gay everyone is for *decades*. Funding for history keeps getting cut as a result. There are entire moral panics about it. You just haven't read any history since highschool.

‘Len Deighton’s reputation was established as the creator of an anti-Bond, and it’s at least true that 007 wouldn’t be found messing around with eggs in the kitchen until Roger Moore whips a quiche out of the oven for Tanya Roberts.’ @moonjets.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Can't save Universities tho

Moral of the story: always stop to say hello to friendly cats. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

I have a piece in today’s Guardian on the recent history of retirement: a collective social experience whose moment has almost passed? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Following recent debates about drinking in Parliament, @emmapeplow.bsky.social has delved into the oral history archive to find out what former MPs thought of Westminster's drinking culture, and how it has changed since the 1960s. historyofparliament.com/2026/04/28/d...

Why’s an American pressure group that helped overturn Roe v Wade suddenly taken an interest in your local park? Anti-rights movements won't stop with trans people, and we must hold back the tide. Get behind @transsolidarity.bsky.social’s campaign: https://protectparkrun.uk/

‘Brian Wilson sounds naive, but also entirely believable. He just ups and says out loud whatever’s on his mind or in his heart, without any masks or baffles or qualifications. A complicated tenderness, with no macho bluff.’ Ian Penman on the Beach Boys. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Literally devastating news And almost certainly even worse because the models don't include the effects of huge volumes of Greenland meltwater pouring into the North Atlantic at a rate of 30 million tonnes AN HOUR www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Fuck this. As an industry, we are in an existential crisis of book banning because of homophobia and transphobia weaponized by racist authoritarians. “Dirty books” are not the problem. Censorship is. Make whatever books you like, but don’t you dare call other books dirty in your shitty marketing.

Have you ever considered a career in publishing? Do you want to find out more about what working in the industry could look like, and how to get into it? Then join us in Manchester on the 17th April! Book: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/events-and-courses/careers-publishing-manchester

This is an outstanding and unexpectedly moving piece about Napalm Death’s infamous 1.3-second masterpiece:

Also me:

Oh so now copyright matters.

‘Why was Christopher Steele’s dossier so shoddy, and why did it command such influence? Steele’s own apparent lack of expertise may be relevant here. He makes much of his linguistic prowess, yet he has a shakier grasp of Russian than he claims.’ Vadim Nikitin: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Bill's Climate Catch-up #8 Subscribe to read this week's paid content in my #CoolEarth newsletter Lots of free stuff too 🙂

I read this this morning and thought it really outstanding

This was excellent

The finest take down of the institution of monarchy and "class" and the grasping, greedy, venal, entitled, and very stupid people it enables that you will read today or any day. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

'About 10,000 writers have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, in which the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday'. 1/2

Ian Huntley has died after being attacked in prison. There’s questions to ask but right now, let the media focus on his victims: 10 year old best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and their parents and siblings who must still endure a lifetime of grief. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Very cool to see the cover revealed today for @keithkahnharris.bsky.social’s THE BEAUTIFUL DEATH OF OZZY OSBOURNE: HOW METAL TEACHES US TO LIVE, a book I commissioned last year when in-house at HarperNorth. It’s an exhilarating read for both Ozzy- and Sabbath-heads, and the metal-curious:

Mood

A new independent LGBTQ+ publisher named PANSY has been launched by novelist Matt Cain and businessman Harry Glasstone 👇 #BookSky

I guess Starmer is trying his version of that famous election-winning line of Churchill’s, about a Labour government needing ‘some kind of Gestapo’ once they’re in power

Publication day tomorrow: 'These Isles: A People’s History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' (HarperNorth).

"John Prescott would be loving this"

Never in a million years did I ever fathom when I resurrected the Epstein story in 2018 that it would lead to first arrest of a British Royal in four centuries. Not since King Charles I was arrested in 1647. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

I'm very excited to reveal the cover of my forthcoming book 'The Beautiful Death of Ozzy Osbourne' AND a big discount for pre-orders with Waterstones. Be quick as it's only available until the end of this Friday. Order here - www.waterstones.com/campaign/feb...

This is a - characteristically from Laleh Khalili - brilliant piece:

Shout out to comrade @stuhennigan.bsky.social whose debut novel KESHED is published today. You need this book in your life. Oh yes you do.

𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖓𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖊

For my take on where we are headed, based upon looking back at a changing climate across the 4.6 billion-year geological record, you might like to take a look at my forthcoming book Out May 21st

Very soon I will be ✨available for work✨ If you’re interested in who I am and what it is I do/have done then here’s a little introduction thread about myself and my work.

The Times interview with Peter Mandelson is a masterclass in lack of self-awareness, but this quote about what it is precisely that makes very rich people so appealing to him is especially revealing.

Move aside Mondo Duplantis

I finished The North Road by @robcowen.bsky.social today - it was absolutely astonishing and very moving. Also excellently read by Rob too. Hard recommend!