And so it starts www.thebookseller.com/news/reform-...

This, from Dina N is good...

As usual he is telling us exactly what he plans. He does not plan to leave and he thinks he will be inaugurated for a third time in his new ballroom.

If you want to read the open letter from 400+ female screenwriters about the BBC’s Everard drama, The Nerve has it.

Massively, massively pleased. (and, if I'm honest, grateful still to be in the game...)! “Genre-defying, boundary-pushing, ideas-filled and hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck-raisingly-exciting, Thrones and Powers is, in my opinion, the novel of a writer at the peak of his powers.'

So prpud of @joncg.bsky.social - thus is one of the best things he’s ever written (in my humble and biased opinion!) www.thebookseller.com/rights/trans...

As people get ready to vote in the Scottish Parliament election please be careful of the spoiler operation which is 'Independent Green Voice'. They are listed second on the regional ballot paper in South of Scotland with the Green Party further down. IGV is a right-wing spoiler operation.

It was wrong when the media did this to Ed Miliband when he was leader and it is wrong to do this to Polanski. Genuinely have no idea how awfulness like this gets past editors… It’s really not that hard to criticise policies or politicians without being antisemitic.

Event Alert 🚨 We’re thrilled to be hosting Ruth Ozeki at the bookshop next month to celebrate the publication of her first short story collection! 📚 in conversation w/ the wonderful @theothersambaker.bsky.social Sign up here: www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/ruth-...

Excellent listening this AM @theothersambaker.bsky.social & Elif Shafak podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/t...

So pleased that @joncg.bsky.social is returning to “weird shit” (some of the time). I love this book featuring heaven, hell, Dante, Joan of Arc, and the Great Fire of London (amongst others!). (Yes, I’m biased. What of it?!)

There's only so long a man can stay away from writing high class weird shit* [*not a technical term]

Prue Leith is not holding back on the assisted dying debate. (CW: suicide) podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

'Much later, because there’s always a later, he’s sleeping on the floor of an empty flat in South London in his thirties, when he wakes and wonders what crystal meth reminds him of, and finds himself on the rocks in Malta by the salt pans. Not mugged by flashback. Simply carried on memory.'

Streetmog, having colonised a washing basket next to the only radiator that's on 24 hours a day. He's giving it up for nobody...

Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."

Loved going on The Shift, one of my favourite podcasts, with @theothersambaker.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

We’re excited that @catherinenewman.bsky.social will be here on Tuesday 3rd February to discuss her latest novel, Wreck, with @theothersambaker.bsky.social! The event will be recorded for a future episode of Baker’s podcast, The Shift. Sign up here: www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/cathe...

Absolutely definitely not me!

A wise woman once told me terror was the flip side of exhilaration. She’s not wrong!

Watching Nicola Sturgeon discussing her memoir Frankly with Sam Baker in Glasgow last night, I was struck by how much nostalgia was in the hall - people don't just love her, they love who they were when she first came to power and the hope they invested in her open.substack.com/pub/theshift...

Lots of love for my conversation with Nicola Sturgeon rhis week. Catch up here podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Talking life after leadership and “the worst two yeara of my life” with @nicolasturgeon.bsky.social on The Shift podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Sitting in my living room listening to Oasis’ support act warm up. Should have sold tickets

“The ironic benefit of having so few narratives around this time of life is you don’t feel punished by them either” - talking midlife lies with @glynnismacnicol.bsky.social on this week’s podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

NEW: Tomorrow’s front page of Scottish newspaper, The National.

Talking about atrophy over on The Shift today, bc somebody has to! theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/p/lets-talk-...

As the Inquiry into the Post Office scandal is released and the full scale of its impact is revealed, catch up with leading campaigner Jo Hamilton on The Shift podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Yesterday the little boy who was told he’d never read more than a tabloid headline got himself a PhD from St Andrews. So proud of you @joncg.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/theshift...

I think this is one of my most favourite episodes of The Shift podcast ever. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... @canongate.co.uk @melissafebos.bsky.social

This book is brilliant. I really recommend you buy it - or support @monaeltahaway’s substack. Unbound (now @boundless) have not paid Mona and many other authors. She did all the work and made it happen. They are taking the piss, please support Mona if you can. open.substack.com/pub/feminist...

Annual summer reading roundup time. Getting in before the hoards! theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/p/summer-rea...

@jeaninecummins.bsky.social mins saying it how it is and how it was for the first time since American Dirt. What a woman, what a listen @theothersambaker.bsky.social #newbook #speaktomeofhome @headlinebooks.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/j...

How do you walk through fire and come out the other side? @jeaninecummins.bsky.social talking exclusively to The Shift podcast about the American Dirt controversy, confidence, identity and her new book Speak To Me of Home podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... @headlinebooks.bsky.social

Who benefits when women shrink shrink shrink to invisibility? 🤔Chatting to @jenniferweiner.bsky.social on this week’s episode of The Shift pod. open.spotify.com/episode/10Uh... @hqstories.bsky.social

Who benefits when women shrink shrink shrink to invisibility? 🤔Chatting to @jenniferweiner.bsky.social on this week’s episode of The Shift pod. open.spotify.com/episode/10Uh... @hqstories.bsky.social

Why women don’t go up against powerful white men. The system was built by them and for them. Rest in peace Virginia Giuffre. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Ever wonder whether books change conversations? Miranda July has just been named as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2025 in TIME Magazine. HELL YES. time.com/collections/... (Big thanks to @theothersambaker.bsky.social for the shout out in The Shift newsletter!)

Is your brain absolutely fried? Nothing going in? Nothing staying in? Unable to concentrate? Hiding under the bed to get away from the news cycle? This might be for you… open.substack.com/pub/theshift...

What is everyone thinking?! 🤯

I wish I didn't have to keep asking if News outlets were reporting things but there's so much they ignore. @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @bbcradio4.bsky.social @channel4news.bsky.social @itvnews.bsky.social @skynewsrss.bsky.social [rss? Russia?]

👇 www.thebookseller.com/news/society...

Here is link to @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social’s fab piece on the entitlement of tech bros stealing art, books, films to train their AI machines. www.thetimes.com/article/4ca8...

Anyone else coming? Might bring my sketchbook and draw some pictures on paper that no one can feed into AI...

#metabookthieves #SoA Date: Thursday, 3 April 2025, 1.30pm Location: Meta’s London offices (11-22 Canal Reach, London N1C 4BE, King’s Cross). Meet: Granary Square at 1.30pm. Once we have a critical mass, we will move to Meta’s offices.

Toxic men on the telly, misogyny, menopause, and why she doesn’t want to look like a boiled egg! That’s just the tip of the conversational iceberg with Lorraine Kelly off the telly on The Shift podcast this week @orionbooks.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Thank you, Emma Brockes for a superb interview in today’s Guardian! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Child poverty, growing up in care, being written off at birth, hear what Jenni Fagan has to say about all that and much more (also read her incred memoir #Ootlin) podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

The debate about assisted dying in the UK made me think about an astonishing conversation I had with Amy Bloom about her husband’s decision to die when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. What she has to say about living through that with him took my breath away. open.substack.com/pub/theshift...