'Tip Toe' is an extraordinary piece of drama, but oh boy is my anxiety through the roof.

If you'd pay a plumber, fucking pay a poet.

Book 34 of 2026 Only half-finished, but still a bunch of fun. Also made me laugh a lot. Gone too soon, Charlie. #Booksky

It really is. I vividly remember turning the corner and catching my first glimpse of it. There was a gaggle of visitors in front of it, but even that obscured view made the hairs go up on the back of my neck.

My artist hero. I went to Madrid for my 50th to see 'Las Meninas' and his other masterpieces in the Prado, and the thrill has stayed with me.

Get Carter and Flash Gordon.

Morning.

I loved Moviedrome as a teen, watching the films on the TV in my bedroom, the sound down low and my face close to the screen. And I sent off for the booklet. Well worth a watch, film fans.

NEWS!! Here's the poster for my forthcoming solo exhibition of caricatures at @quirkyfox.bsky.social. Entitled 'Divine Comedy', it's themed around comedians and comedy actors. Show opens July 1st. More details and a link to follow in due course. Reposts much appreciated. #caricature #art

Well said. Shame on Farage and the rest.

So good luck #Edusky if you're back at school today. It will likely be a shock, and take you a few days to acclimatise. Look after your yourselves.

Book 33 of 2026 #Booksky My first Forster, and rather delightful: witty and moving in equal measure. I'll certainly return to his novels.

'Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practise.' E. M. Forster, 'A Room With a View'

Payday bookshop splurge #Booksky

If literature teaches us anything, it's about the dangers of seduction and over reach. As a reader, I'm not interested in anything that has been anywhere near AI.

Satisfying day writing - broken the back of a short story I've been playing around with for months. Having a clear block of time makes such a difference, rather than snatched half hours here and there. Time to focus and concentrate.

Book 32 of 2026 #Booksky A brilliantly unsettling story, up there with my favourites from Jackson. A disorientating tale of multiple personalities, where reality feels unstable and liable to collapse at any moment.

Our helpline remains open this may half-term 💙 It's brave to acknowledge when you need help and even braver to ask for it. We're here for everyone in education. Call us, we'll listen 🤗 08000 561 561 #MentalHealth #TeacherWellbeing #Teachers #EducationUK

In celebration of both World Dracula Day and Peter Cushing's birthday. 🧛

Book 31 of 2026 #Booksky Brilliantly written, clear-eyed survey of where we are, and what we can do about it. It starts with Klein's obsession with the other Naomi, & soon encompasses something much bigger. It's also an urgent plea for tolerance, and to move beyond damaging, online binary debate.

If I’m not evolved enough to understand it, then why did they have to steal my writing to train it?

I feel seen.

Book 30 of 2026 #Booksky I'm glad I read it, and some of the writing is just exquisite, but... I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a slog at times.

Morning all.

Book 29 of 2026 Another gallop through probably my favourite Batman story (although 'Arkham Asylum' runs it close), and the colours in this edition are just gorgeous. #Booksky

One city. 9 million people. All of us Londoners. We will never be divided.

I think the best way to enjoy this list, which contains lots of predictable choices (made as it was by committee), is to find a book you like, click to see who voted for it, and then look at the voters' other top 10 choices. You might find something else you like that you haven't read.

My first taste of Guinness 0%, and I'm impressed. Pretty damn close to the real thing.

Very true. I've got a box of kind messages from students, which I dip into when I've had a rough day.

I feel a lot of David Attenborough's hard work with nature preservation is to cover for how much of a mess his brother made of that dinosaur theme park.

Be a David Attenborough in world of Trumps, Farages, Musks, and Putins.

Ozymandias as a Limerick A traveller from somewhere antique Spied a statue, all shattered and weak. 'King of kings' it did bray Before it fell to decay. Now the desert cares not for his cheek.

He knows the score. observer.co.uk/culture/inte...

Book 28 of 2026 #Booksky Just brilliant. Whitehead's writing pulses with life and energy, like Ellroy at his best. I was also struck by how this 70s-set novel chimes so much with today.

A fun day's quizzing in Oxford. We didn't manage to repeat last year's trophy winning form, but good times nonetheless.

Morning.

The best post is book post. #Booksky

If I’m being honest, I’m feeling pretty down about my small business. I’m working so hard but it’s been very quiet. It’s bloody difficult at the moment. Please have a look at what I do and repost to spread the word. www.gailmyerscough.co.uk

Book 27 of 2026 Tonally, this was all over the place - which may be the point, given it describes a teenager's struggles with mental ilness and panic attacks. I found it messy. I did laugh at the bit where two 16 year olds try to buy booze, via a plan that only a teenager would think viable.

The saddest thing I've read in a long time. I loved reading and making up bedtime stories with the girls when they were little, and I really miss it and I DIDN'T NEED OR WANT AI TO DO IT FOR ME.

Book 26 of 2026 #Booksky 'Oxford undergraduate struggles to write essay about Shakespeare's sonnets' might not sound like a page-turner, but I though this was terrific. Surprising, funny and a supreme example of conjuring up a believable consciousness. She's fictional, but I hope Annabel does well.

Morning.

Book 25 of 2026 #Booksky The first Maigret novel, and it shows. Whilst lots of the well-loved tropes are already in place - Maigret's bulky stature, the pipe, his stove - this was a bit too frenetic for my taste. A sign of a writer finding his feet.

Off to the library. Still thrills 50-odd years after my first visit, and I hope it always will. What will I find? #Booksky

Book 24 of 2026 #Booksky Boyne reminds me of Steinbeck: his prose is seemingly simple, but utterly unflinching. I enjoyed this very much, despite parts being a gruelling read.

A reminder that we did this. (And had to pay Mirror Group Newspapers for the copyright of the text, one of the finest rights payments I’ve ever approved.)

Good luck to all school staff heading back tomorrow. I feel anxious, and probably won't sleep much, but I'll try to take the day one thing at a time, and not worry about too far ahead. #Edusky

@hollowcrownfans.bsky.social 'Stars, hide your fires - let not light see my black and deep desires.' Macbeth. #shakespearesunday

Wow. I'm just getting started on this, a very thoughtful Secret Santa present from a colleague, but even the foreword hits home. Zweig, writing in the early 1940s, is describing the interwar period - but he could be describing today.

Book 23 of 2026 #Booksky This also called to me from its library shelf, and as they have a bunch of these I'm going to commit to reading all 75 Maigret novels. And this one was a goodie: a mysterious suicide, a blood-stained suit and a past that won't stay buried. What more could you want?