Today we’ve published our Response to the Independent Review of Arts Council England. It sets out the actions we’ll take to address your feedback and the recommendations outlined in the Review. Read our full Response 👇 https://bit.ly/4rZ6Zt0

Very proud indeed of @xanbrooks.bsky.social and his excellent book.

Northumberland walk

On this bluest of blue Mondays, thanks to @tomhamilton.bsky.social for performing the near-miraculous feat of making me laugh

This is - actually, I’ve been staring at this story for 10 minutes, and I’m not sure *what* it is. ‘Existentially diminishing’ might cover it. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Festive season well & truly ushered in here by the young gentleman bearing an apple crumble who opened our front door, strode into our kitchen (where we were making dinner) & demanded “where is everybody?”. 30 secs of confusion later, we established he had the wrong house. And to all a good night!

Much gratification, in our house, to learn that @xanbrooks.bsky.social wrote the 13th-best book of the year 😍 www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

Thoughtful and (unsurprisingly) unnerving piece by @emilybell.bsky.social about news media, AI, truth, bias, and billionaires www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Seconded, while declaring wife-of-the-author conflict of interest

I feel like this was meant for you, @xanbrooks.bsky.social

Please, if you're able, support Independent bookshops in the run up to Christmas. Their curation and knowledge will help you choose books that no algorithm can. And algorithms don't smile and chat to you either. @bookcornerhx.bsky.social @forumbooks.bsky.social @blackwellsmcr.bsky.social

This is ... quite a read. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/o...

@librarychampion.bsky.social I’ve found you! Immediately feeling much more at home 😍

Dear god, this Vanity Fair piece. Where oh where oh WHERE was the editor? Where was the person whose job it was to say “there is a jaw-dropping story here which must and should be told, but the version you’ve got down is NOT it?” www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...

Deeply impactful piece by the always-exceptional Aditya Chakrabortty (who I can’t find on here yet?) on the plight of the post-industrial workforce that sends out our Amazon parcels. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The cover pic of Ladybird Books’ seminal “What To Look For In Autumn”. I still have my 40+yo copy. Joyous

Suspect you’ll enjoy this, @magspatten.bsky.social

I’ve never posted a picture of my cat on social media before but Bluesky is a place to try new things (and honestly: where did not-posting-cat-pics get me? Or any of us?). Also, this pic is objectively funny. Look at him, the chump

Episode one of #TheListeners felt like the most compelling TV thing I’ve seen in a while: a bit John Wyndham; a bit @rumaan.bsky.social; a bit cli-fi; a bit Notes on a Scandal. Uneasy, unheimlich, atmospheric. Back for more tomorrow

Re… posting/blueing/skying..? on the grounds that a) I am 50% responsible for this 9yo and b) I keep remembering it and laughing

Reviewed Daisy Johnson’s superbly creepy The Hotel for @guardian.extwitter.link, in case anyone doesn’t have enough in the way of scary stories rn www.theguardian.com/books/2024/o...

Odd to claim to be leaving Twitter, when I haven’t posted on there for an age. But: here we all are (with luck)