I might join in the George Michael top five fun later, but in the meantime here's the hastily-prepared Wham! top ten I drunkenly made for @lazerguided.bsky.social what would appear to be twelve years ago. I'm afraid I don't have the energy to fix the broken links. share.google/fNzQweTHG662...

Eric Burdon (Newcastle) Alan Price (Newcastle) Chas Chandler (Newcastle) Hilton Valentine (Newcastle) John Steel (Newcastle)

Following multiple Irish media accounts, and my timeline be like “5 die in Meath horror crash”... “3 killed in car accident in Mayo”... “Tributes paid to West Cork mum who died in road smash”... and “This compact 2-bedroom Ballymun end terrace, yours for only €2,000,000”. #Speirgorm

@loudribs.bsky.social I suspect that my Bluesky timeline may have crossed streams.

Me: tired, work tomorrow, early start, had better crash. My brain: Look! Just found a 3 hour documentary on black holes! And there's loads of booze in the house! Including that bottle of moonshine that tastes like brake fluid!

Having just spent a great week off doing culture, fine food, fine drink, great company and lots of records, tomorrow I shall return to corporate gimcrack, email overdose and a boss ordering me to use AI to be more productive, because modern life.

Whilst I know that we're all supposed to play music/videos on our mobiles at top volume on trains these days, but kudos to the guy who's just played God Save The King followed by Boney M on this particular choo choo.

This week's Stewart Lee column in @thenerve.news has an absolute humdinger of a Reginald Bosanquet gag, and this is exactly the content I'm here for. www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

I know that England is a bit weird, but I'm currently in a town with England flags, Remembrance poppies and Halloween decorations all festooned from lampposts, and I don't know whether to deport immigrants, kill them or dress them up as a zombie.

In a bar with a young and very talented/intelligent colleague. He's 25, but has never heard of Mogwai. We're fucked, leaving the world in the hands of this generation, ain't we?

Very much enjoying working in London this morning despite going to a gig in Glasgow last night (memo to self: take the Caledonian Sleeper next time).

Just spotted a posh guy with a fake moustache and nose combo queuing outside Waterstones in Woking. Must be Andrew Windsor making sure he's first in line for a special new book tomorrow morning.

Catherine Connolly lifts her top up when visiting the Dublin Portal #Smearthebejaysus

This is a fantastic thread...

There's a guy in this boozer - can't be a day under 70 - who's rocking a 1980s, Limahl in his pomp coiffure, and I only hope I get to look like that if I make it to his vintage.

Hmm. Plenty of tricolours affixed to the lampposts of backstreet residential Dublin D2. I assume a celebration of welcoming, tolerance and solidarity, rather than racist flagshaggers at it again. #Speirghorm

As the UK is having another normal one again, I'm having my own state visit. To Ireland. Currently parading around Drumconda dressed as Melania Trump's hat creature.

Glasgow's at-risk, Category A listed Egyptian Halls looks so much better with the scaffolding wrapping torn off and a large advert for vapes added.

I do find it rather bizarre that the fash are back. A good punch in the face should sort them out (like what happened to Moseley).

In a bar and they're playing Heroin by the Velvet Underground, which isn't a sentence I thought I'd type.

New work🖤

Been busy with life stuff so haven't been keeping abreast of recent world events... but Jeez, this segmentation of people into 'right' and 'left' - both in a US context but also at home, abroad etc- is infantile and tedious as fuck.

This is such a good record. It's like they've remade the Wicker Man, but starring The Slits.

Just seen a chap in shorts with a tattoo that closely resembles the face of Ian Krankie, and that's the look I'm hoping to rock.

Just the 26 year wait for this rabble to release a new LP. That Prolapse finally have is delightfully awful (in all the best ways).

A review of of our new LP which is out this week. Thanks very to Martin Gray for the kind words.

Just out from seeing Weapons. A film that has its detractors, but I absolutely loved it. Rare for a horror film to play so deliberately with form.

Introduce yourself with the last 5 concerts you saw. Jive Bunny Sonia Shakin' Stevens Showaddywaddy GG Allin

Le sigh... ...today, an elderly person I know – a lifelong Labour voter – announced that they'd cancelled a trip to England because “you don’t know if your hotel will be full of migrants,” and it’s like… where do we even begin?

Having seen @prolapseband.bsky.social in Newcastle on Thursday, and Prolpase in Preston last night, today I’m going to do something very different and see Lankum in Glasgow… …with Prolpase also on the bill.

I don't have any skin in the game, but I do find it odd that they've combined Ireland's Fucknugget of the Year competition with the Presidential election would-be candidate race

Really enjoyed this. Plus great to see John Francis Flynn on prime time RTÉ.

Young ‘uns often ask me why my generation is so jaded, so I tell them that Erasure once did a cover of Gaudete, formerly of Steeleye Span, and it should have been amazing but it was rubbish. “Alright grandad” reply the young ‘uns.

Fujifilm 400 on the Minolta with the beloved lensbaby❤️

The sun appeared at just the right moment 🖤 #photography

That time when a young Eddie Howe was in the RA

As he's playing golf just down the road, let me be the millioneth person to say that Trump is a cunt.

Random fact that sadly won’t make it into my current book project: in the 1970s, British holiday camp chain Pontins decided to get in on the sun holiday craze and opened a site in Torremolinos and called it The Pontinental, which is such an outstanding name that it’s a shame it hasn’t survived.

#Newsnight there, just casually leaving the view that asylum seekers = sexual offenders unchallenged. Le sigh.

The older I get (which is fair-to-middling old), the more I can recommend spending Saturday afternoon getting tipsy and dancing around the living room to Soft Cell's 'The Art of Falling Apart".

The Pastels toppermost by @lazerguided.bsky.social www.toppermost.co.uk/pastels-the/

In a bar. Lots of young lads wearing shorts (because they think it’s a PE lesson?) and Nirvana t-shirts. Which is like me going down the pub in the 90’s wearing a Lonnie Donegan t-shirt. The irony being that Lonnie Donegan is way cooler.

Mr Miller has very good taste (also, did I ever tell you about the time I penned a Jake Tackray retrospective? www.toppermost.co.uk/thackray-jake/)

Fair play to the busker in Glasgow City Centre who's performing a perfectly serviceable version of 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'. Might be a bit niche for an audience heading to TKMaxx, however.

Apparently I have tickets for all three of these gigs. What a dreary 3 days this shall be...

Finally got to pick up the newish @xmaldeutschland.bsky.social box set. It is, of course, glorious.

Always a pleasure to recall that time when Elaine C Smith looked at me a bit funny outside Morrisons