A truly terrific book. And totes unbiased from me as the brilliant @andreahenryy.bsky.social is the editor.

What the fuck is he on about?

I wish JD Vance would become a Christian himself in that love thy neighbor/suffer the children/ throw out the moneylenders way Jesus preached.

"If Mamdani is elected... New York will look more like London. You go to London right now and it is largely Muslim. Women are completely covered up." In other news, here is ACTUAL London 2025: Women MPs in Westminster, Cancer UK's charity Run for Life, London Pride, and Lionesses' victory parade.

Well, thank f*ck for that #thetraitors

No. Snap.

Never thought I’d be impressed by Wes Streeting but this is very well said indeed.

JFC

Lazy cunt

Dear wonderful kind funny generous Jilly Cooper. May the heavenly champagne corks pop.

This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power by the President of the United States. America is on the brink of martial law. Do not be silent.

Could not all living past presidents SAY something? Anything. How can they all remain silent? Especially Obama.

A small glimmer of hope in the appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally, especially having watched the news from Chicago and Manchester. Seizing at anything positive right now.

I am sickened by today’s attack in Manchester. Antisemitism is on the rise around the world, and we must do all we can to stomp it out. I am grateful to first responders and congregants who showed incredible bravery, and I am praying for those who were killed.

Fucksake, Chris Mason, on the 6 o'clock news arguing for nuance when it comes to Farage ... #whentheyshowyouwhotheyarebelievethen

Yup. Love, courage and sympathy to all my American friends.

In La Repubblica, really extraordinary text (look at alt text), essentially saying calling this fascism is too subtle, that it’s worse and Hegseth is a lunatic. Who am I to argue? www.repubblica.it/rubriche/l-a...

Just stopped at a French service station and had not had Cannonade of Valmy dress-up being on sale. To be fair we were at Valmy but ...

"Fight the pain" Pay close attention to this kind of language because normalising and/or belittling women's pain is rank misogyny

#JimmyKimmel #StephenColbert

Unpopular opinion: 1)What is happening in America is hugely concerning. 2) It is in both Britain‘s and Europe's interest to work closely together. 3) Neither Brits nor Europeans can afford to openly break with the US right now. 4) Making the most of that impossible situation is very hard.

Don’t you dare call us fascists, they say, as they force people off the airwaves for criticizing them while vowing to crush and criminalize their opposition.

👇👇👇

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

You'd think

This is the coolest man in the UK. It's not even close.

Huge congrats to @tommctague.bsky.social whose brilliant #BetweentheWaves was launched last night, is published today & longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. *proudretirededitorface*

Flags. Ffs.

Day 1 as a retired person. Flowers from my now - sob - former @picadorbooks.bsky.social colleagues. Better update my bio ...

think that if "we must debate the fascists not no-platform them!" is your view then we have probably reached the stage, globally, where you may wish to wonder if your preferred way of doing things is actually working

Concerned locals. Ordinary mums and dads. Just members of.. checks notes... Combat 18. standuptoracism.org.uk/robert-jenri...

Quite

Once, in the 1980s, I went to the ABC Fulham Road. So did Terence Stamp. God knows what we saw. I spent the entire film watching him watch it. RIP.

Well. Agog.

Inclined to believe that anyone who picks fights with the Auschwitz Museum isn't entirely to be trusted. About anything.

Merciful fucking god. AND the security details used every disabled parking space at Daylesford Organic.

Backlisted friends present and future, I beg those of you inclined to take your Unbound animus out on the show to understand that Andy and the rest of the team have zip, nada, nilch, nothing to do with Unbound. It’s painful to watch him have to deal with these missives repeatedly.

Remember: Palestinians in Gaza are not ‘starving to death’, they are BEING starved to death by Israel as part of its genocide. Small difference but a crucial distinction.

The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine.

this is one of the worst crimes in human history and the entire global north and all of us in it share the responsibility

The Bluesky face verification thing is only if you want to view adult content. I realise this will still be far from ideal for many people. But you can still use Bluesky without doing it.

Everything is - of course - awful but I personally have had a jolly nice evening at The Book Society summer party. Publishing is in many ways bonkers but you do get to talk to interesting clever funny people about books - and much else besides. thebooksociety.org.uk

And write about her so brilliantly, too. 'Outstanding' said The Guardian, so it's not just biased-editor speak. #ArtistsSiblingsVisionaries

Quite

V happy to see my Johns' book given lead review in The Times yesterday

V excited to be giving my first talk about Gwen and Augustus John at Derby Book Festival tomorrow, 12.30. If anyone's in the vicinity, do come!

Biggish day tomorrow so of course I'm sitting here shouting at the news ...

Quite. Met him, briefly, once. Was not charmed.

Editing a book about the Holocaust, as I've done one way or another several times over 40 years as a non-fiction editor. And every single time, the petty cruelties and the vast numbers of those who suffered and/or died take my breath away.

As so often of late, I've seen the news and really wish I hadn't. Abhorrent speech from Starmer who has almost certainly squandered the majority with which they were elected and on which I felt a tiny glimmer of hope, long since quashed alas.