Today's Nice Thing. Isn't that a gorgeous cover?

Good thread.

It's like it's not a good idea to sack all your journalists

This is affecting all the freelances I know. Including me. I didn't have a book coming out I'd have a lot of time on my hands. And folk wonder why we aren't excited about AI.

Couldn't they just let us see stuff we chose to follow, instead of involving AI? Can't be difficult, surely.

MP being interviewed on @channel4news.bsky.social talking about how their policies will improve people's "lived experience". Yeah, just throw in a buzzword you don't understand, that'll get the votes.

10 March Walthamstow @pennykiley.bsky.social with @nndroid.bsky.social 📕 Tickets www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1982185303...

Fancy a discussion about something other than Starmerama? On April 2nd, I'll be talking about my book Maybe I'm Amazed, music autism & more at the RSA, just off The Strand. And... the paperback is out the same day, in Magical Mystery Tour tangerine!

After 22 years as a letterer, I now only have enough regular lettering work to keep me busy for 2 days per week. So if you’re staffing a new project, please keep me in mind as your letterer! Or request me via your editor! Recent clients include DC, Marvel, BOOM, Dark Horse, 2000AD, etc. Thank you 🙏🏻

The existence of downhill skiing implies the existence of uphill skiing, which I would very much like to see.

The Real Thing were such a class act. #totp

Was there a rule in the 1970s that they wouldn't let you on Top of the Pops if you weren't wearing white jeans?

My local NUJ branch is kindly supporting my Oxford book launch, and has let me write a piece for their blog.

Clash in the Attic?

There's been another outbreak of flag measles in Birmingham, so if you are local, please sign #BrumTogether

I am in countdown mode! It's 5th February which means it is exactly a month/4 weeks until publication date for my memoir Atypical Girl. It's taken a long time to get to this point, so I've written a blog post about how I got there. olderthanelvis.blogspot.com/2026/02/ive-...

Monthly business blog, for those interested in comms/content stuff. Includes some rants about AI and a style guide conundrum about what to call the former prince Andrew. Plus, dates for my book tour! pennykiley.com/2026/02/04/h...

Really looking forward to this. London friends, please come and see me.

Books I read in January. Favourites: The Seven Rules of Trust by Jimmy Wales, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (book club), Anfield Road by Chris Shepherd, Jesus Christ Kinski by Benjamin Myers.

90 minutes is the perfect length for a film, just as 3 minutes is the perfect length for a pop song.

This. I'm getting so tired of alt text from people who think they're clever. But not clever enough to understand what alt text is actually for.

Just been reading the hard-hitting report from @societyofauthors.bsky.social (and others) about Gen AI. "The UK government is presiding over one of the greatest acts of theft in modern history: the stripping of the UK’s creative industries of their rights, livelihoods, and control over their work."

Been getting Facebook ads from a business that buys record collections. "Get your space back" it says. I don't think they understand their audience.

Just say it, Sir Keir! With Brexit, Johnson and Farage got exactly what they wanted. Nothing was "botched". The whole idea was a piece of lunacy from the start, mis-sold to little Englanders by a bunch of self-interested liars. It's time to just say so! share.google/ruK8JV84YOUJ...

Tickets out now for the Oxford launch of Atypical Girl - a memoir by our very own music journalism star Penny Kiley, about "Liverpool, punk rock, and trying to be normal". It tells her story of covering Liverpools vibrant punk and post-punk music scene in the late 70s and 80s fixr.co/event/penny-...

I've been wondering this a lot. Also, remembering that teachers' high expectations were pretty demotivating.

She came from Greece and she brought a brolly She studied Europe at Manchester Poly (Well, after they changed the name I said, it'll never be the same) Want to live like Gorton people....

Emma is right.

Aztec Camera played the Royal Court in Liverpool on 28 January 1988. A new line-up and popstar status, but the "reckless romance" was still there. My Melody Maker review is now on Substack. pennykiley.substack.com/p/aztec-came...

Ok I get it but please don’t do this. One day soon we will be able to afford for that not to matter but not while I still can’t afford food for the last week of every month.

Brave New World: Justice for creators in the age of GenAI In our ongoing commitment to campaign for author rights and interests, we have joined forces with other creator-led organisations to co-launch a ground-breaking report showing the onset of a creative jobs crisis in the UK. buff.ly/wThFNtu

#Oxford friends, I'm doing a book launch at the fab Gulp Fiction bookshop on 19th March. It would be great to see you there. fixr.co/event/penny-...

AI songs? FFS

Today's Nice Thing.

We’ve organised a fascinating ‘mapping music, arts & culture spaces’ panel session for the Oxford Brookes Creative Industries Festival, from 1pm to 3pm on Weds 25 February at Brookes. Book your free tickets now, & check out the other festival sessions: www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/6th-inter...

Just been interviewed by the Liverpool Echo. A bit weird seeing as I used to write for them.

Men, more able than women to judge truthfulness AND fight geese yougov.co.uk/society/arti...

Given the serious flooding in parts of Ireland today, people will be talking about climate change, but there aren’t many of us who do climate talks for kids. There needs to be *far more* effort and money put into making the subject engaging, accessible and hopeful for them. #SpéirGhorm #SpeirGorm

Celebrity Mastermind round on UK punk rock 1976 to 79. Dead easy.

No, we need to shut down the companies that generate them, destroy the industry, and salt the earth.

It’s 2026, and apparently it’s the “50th anniversary of punk”. There’s going to be a lot of Media Stuff about it this year, and most of it will be wrong. A People's History of Punk, fronted by @chrisgpackham.bsky.social, gets it right. Here's my review. olderthanelvis.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-pe...

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"There’s a soulfulness to country music that can elude you if you just look at the big picture." Emmylou is right. Listen to the good stuff, not the "corny" stuff.

This just arrived. Excited.

I have a PhD in Creative Writing and I can’t see the point of AI.

One thing I've learned from having a family member in the forestry business is that trees explode a lot more often than you'd think.

One of them, SURELY there had to be one who has the tiniest bit of self-awareness to think ‘I’m not the right person for this’.

I was reading it on the train today. Re-reading, please note.

Here's a playlist of seven great versions of Roadrunner going back to 1972. Roadrunner Thrice is a particular fave youtube.com/playlist?lis... And this article by @ladymissbarton.bsky.social about "rock's most thrilling song" is a fantastic read (THREAD) 👀 www.theguardian.com/music/2007/j...

Today's Nice Thing. A fabulous building.