Four days into our Beijing/Chengdu/Chongqing excursion - this is a view from Mount Emei, the highest sacred Buddhist mountain in mainland China

The Kennedy Center terminated at least five members of its small social impact team, including its artistic director Marc Bamuthi Joseph. It marks the first major reduction in workforce since President Donald Trump’s takeover of the center.

The sun is particularly glorious today so here is your reminder to 'book that summer event' asap. From festivals to theatre, here is my own list of things to watch out for in London:

‘A young Austen, spirited, insubordinate in her imagination and awkward with strangers, would have had good cause to question her future as a married woman.’ Freya Johnston on Jane Austen, juvenilia and marriage: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

My review of 'Alterations' at the @nationaltheatre.org.uk for @londonunattached.bsky.social: "As good a chance as any to introduce yourself to Abbensetts’s lightning-paced prose. This play has the power to give you stitches, but it will be the tears that get you in the end."

My most recent piece for CNN! Citra Sasmita on @ The Barbican till April 21st.

I wrote about 'Rewilding in London', speaking with @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social and Wildlife Gardeners of Haggerston about how the new concept not usually associated with urban spaces can implemented to boost wildlife: swlondoner.shorthandstories.com/can-london-t...

How will "the villain of all museums" approach the future? Check out my recent piece on whether the Hew Locke exhibition is a turning point for the British Museum and their collection. Many thanks to @poisonchallis.bsky.social and Dr Eva Miller🗃️ swlondoner.shorthandstories.com/is-history-c...

Not a good idea for the Tories to sound like Nigel Farage, to aerate the views of Nigel Farage, while not having a single available politician who could plausibly appeal as well to that group of the electorate as Nigel Farage does IMO.

I've been very quiet here, but here's a great thing that happened recently: Theatre Studies at the U. of Glasgow has launched a *free* online introduction to playwriting in partnership with Playwrights' Studio, Scotland! www.futurelearn.com/courses/an-i... Do pass on to anybody interested!

#OnThisDay, 15 Nov 1982, at least 11 women* from Greenham Common Peace Camp in the UK are sent to prison. They'd refused to be bound over to keep the peace after occupying a sentry box on the US base. *some sources say 23, others 11. #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #BritishHistory 🗃️ 1/2

Word of the Day, should you need it, is ‘latibulate’, a 17th-century verb meaning to find a corner somewhere and hide in it.

Despite having a public affairs exam tomorrow I must insist that I’m too whimsical to know what an Integrated Care Board is

Inaugural BlueSky post here - take a look at my thoughts on the #Burtonesque prompted by 'The World of Tim Burton' exhibition currently at the Design Museum, for CNN edition.cnn.com/2024/10/31/s...