Look, plantar fascitis sucks but I think this guy has bigger issues going on

What I like about this headline is the use of the word “accidentally“ Like if they hadn’t put that, we would’ve presumed it was deliberate. www.wdbj7.com/2026/05/26/d...

I wrote about @societyofauthors.bsky.social warning of AI scams, Granta and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and AI and [screams endlessly] 😱 observer.co.uk/culture/book...

A dawning realisation of the thing with social media, esp. with reading on a small screen device, is that for each instant just one topic consumes all your focus, no sense of significance vs. other topics … and it’s easy to get sucked down a hyperfocus special interest tunnel. Cf. random screenshot:

These ending words from @edzitron.com in his latest newsletter about the AI demand problem are so true , and they can be applied to everything that's happening all over the globe. www.wheresyoured.at/premium-the-...

As has become traditional on polling day, here's my poem in the style of Philip Larkin on the small joys of UK democracy (and I know, I know, he might well have voted Reform)

What we are doing to arts, culture and creativity in this country is nothing short of vandalism.

Just wanted to check this externally to double-check, but jeez, this is tragic. As a PhD in philosophy and religion, I really feel the trauma of such terrible news. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/hertfor...

The English countryside in May is really something special to behold.

The English countryside in May is really something special to behold.

As the King is speaking on Capitol Hill….this.

I have no idea how many times we have to dance this dance. It really isn’t high risk, high opportunity at all. Trump will probably be on his best behaviour. Everyone will gush. Praise as a triumph. Then a few days later Trump will forget about it. And go back to normal.

Birmingham-based peeps, there are still tickets available for this in-person event organised by BRIHC at @unibirmingham.bsky.social! A unique opportunity to hear @profdanhicks.bsky.social reflect on his work on heritage, memory and conflict in conversation with @corinnefowler.bsky.social

www.speakersfestivals.com/lewes-speake... I'll be giving two walks based on my book #OurIslandStories for this festival on Saturday 9th May, 2026 in #Lewes @lewesdc.bsky.social

Presidents who are winning wars definitely sack the guys running them www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement

This. They're moving toward antivirals that kill multiple viruses with mRNA. Cancer cures. And they don't have to poison my neighbors to do any of that.

Please consider signing this petition about returning the privatised water industry into public ownership, after it's diabolical history of wrecking our waters — petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

Please consider signing this petition about returning the privatised water industry into public ownership, after it's diabolical history of wrecking our waters — petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:

You wrote a novel using AI? Cool. It's like that time I ran a marathon using a Ford Focus.

Really bleak stuff here. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/w...

Yeah, sure, new books are great, but do you ever read old books? Have you ever read ‘American Pastoral’ by Philip Roth? It's his brilliant disembowelling of America in the 20th Century, and all its hopes of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. drbslibrary.com/americanpast...

Yeah, sure, new books are great, but do you ever read old books? Have you ever read ‘American Pastoral’ by Philip Roth? It's his brilliant disembowelling of America in the 20th Century, and all its hopes of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. drbslibrary.com/americanpast...

Why bother reading books when you can write your own?

Extremely worried about the economic (and then wider societal) consequences if the situation in Iran continues. If it goes on - for scale, it could mean a reduction in oil and gas availability equivalent to the fall in use at the start of the COVID pandemic - www.wired.com/story/iran-w...

Chatting to friends/family (who drive) about this over the weekend - and it doesn't seem like there's any level of understanding re how bad this could get and the consequences to their lives day to day e.g. if there just isn't petrol available (even if some understanding prices will go up)

“… Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.”

Very much related to this, Neil Postman, in 'Amusing Ourselves To Death' compares Orwell's 1984 with Huxley's Brave New World — “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one …

The second part of the questions asked in P1 are the most potent, I think — with reading on the decline, what does this mean for our ability to think? I've spent the week ruminating on this question … and trying to stop myself from spiralling! It's on BBC Sounds, or your favourite podcast app.

I implore you this weekend to listen to 'How Reading Made Us', a 3-part series by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social for BBC Radio 4 — the story of how reading made us and what might happen if we stop Part 1: How Reading Made Our Brains — did reading rewire our brains and change the way we live today?

Very much related to this, Neil Postman, in 'Amusing Ourselves To Death' compares Orwell's 1984 with Huxley's Brave New World — “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one …

I implore you this weekend to listen to 'How Reading Made Us', a 3-part series by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social for BBC Radio 4 — the story of how reading made us and what might happen if we stop Part 1: How Reading Made Our Brains — did reading rewire our brains and change the way we live today?

A pretty astonishing conversation on ‘ordinary abuse’ for the latest @lrb.co.uk podcast — Susan Pederson and Andrew O’Hagan join Thomas Jones to discuss whether the Epstein scandal has anything new to tell us about sexual abuse. And yes, absolutely. Especially for men. www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

Rewilding WORKS

Of the many brilliant things about this video, perhaps my favorite is how Mamdani believes that his audience - working people, New Yorkers everywhere - are absolutely capable of understanding history, solidarity, and the precise, complex language that truly reflects his message.

This is really extraordinary. I've never seen anything like this from a government official.

Yeah, sure, new books are great, but do you ever read old books? Have you ever read ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’, by John le Carré? It’s his classic spy novel of betrayal and living double lives. drbslibrary.com/tinkertailor

‘National disgrace’: pothole repair backlog hits record £18.6bn in England and Wales

Roses are redde Noble are the manatees For a bettir future Teach artes and humanityes

I still think about this a lot.

I’m so efficient I made a three-course meal in two courses.

I’m so efficient I made a three-course meal in two courses.

If I had a nickel for every time Franz Ferdinand was involved in the precursor events of a world war, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice

I absolutely love Komoot, the walking, hiking, cycling, whatever route app. I’ve lived in Birmingham for 30+ years, and with Komoot we keep discovering new and wonderful parts of the area that I’ve never known about, beautiful and breathtaking countryside all around. Fantastic.

I absolutely love Komoot, the walking, hiking, cycling, whatever route app. I’ve lived in Birmingham for 30+ years, and with Komoot we keep discovering new and wonderful parts of the area that I’ve never known about, beautiful and breathtaking countryside all around. Fantastic.

This novel is genius. Read it. I’d offer you my copy, but I’m about to re-read it again.