I'm in fashion! www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026...

Are you ready to take the Alex Johnson time challenge and discover Wales through its feast of writing? @mikeparker.bsky.social finds out how brave Alex has been at Monty Lit Fest on June 13th 😆 montylitfest.com?page_id=9077 @calonbooks.bsky.social

This is some dedicated list analysis for those of you still upset about the Guardian's best novel rundown, including slight compensatory news for us Anthony Powell aficianados too.

My parents have had a reproduction of this - La Moisson en Provence by Vincent Van Gogh - on their bedroom wall for the last 60 years (I was embarrassingly old before I realised who painted it) and now it's up for auction at Sothebys though the $35m estimate might be a little steep for them.

@nonfictioness.bsky.social Think you might be interested in this from my day job www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

How about this for a home library? The pride and joy of Mary Berry's daughter Belles who's selling her house in Oxfordshire for a smidgeon under £4m. search.savills.com/property-det...

@kirawelland.bsky.social Hi, I'm planning to run the tip top photo of Wordsworth's Rydal Mount writing hut by Chris Routledge on my website Shedworking www.shedworking.co.uk next week - Chris says you are the expert on it and I wondered if you could write a few words about it for us please?

Win a copy of The Philosophy of Sheds by Alex Johnson (we have two to give away) www.shedblog.co.uk/2026/05/05/t... It's a gleam entry form frame so you may have to click on it to open on certain browsers or something

CNBC TV show footage of the far right march in London They've just about filled Parliament square With barely anyone between Parliament square and Trafalgar square On the cover image, look at the bottom, there's a giant screen, with pretty much no one to watch it

Happy Proms Shitfight to all who observe.

Why bother making a new list when it’s the same as all the old lists?

An absolute honour to be invited as the guest speaker at the Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire AGM & its Celebration of 100 years of CPRE next month in Thame. Speaking about 'This Is Not My Land: 30 Years on a Small Cotswolds Farm'. Looking forward to the occasion. #CPRE #naturewriting

Some useful public speaking tips from Freud here.

It's been a while since I read them so I need reminding, but is this in one of Paul's letters to the Corinthians?

A small selection of my latest signed prints are now available at the Mersey Art Zone gallery in the Floral Pavilion New Brighton. £45 each. Please help support the gallery if you can, but otherwise these prints can also be purchased from my website alexisbutterfieldart.com. #Liverpool #Wirral #art

Coming soon - The Haunting of Lamb House by Joan Aiken - our brand new edition of a forgotten ghost story, set in and inspired by Lamb House in Rye. Keep your eyes peeled for updates 👀👻📚

Sent to Facebook jail for bullying my sister on her birthday

Slightly increase a band: Oases

The Philosophy of Sheds heads to Paris, more specifically the Smith & Son bookshop on Rue de Rivoli. Formidable!

now thats an anecdote with a punch, from Gillian Tett www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

It was the youngest's stand down today, marking the end of 21 consecutive years of us getting boys up for school.

I fear Labour people risk falling into an ecological fallacy visible from space when reacting to these results. Here is what is very clear in results so far: Labour are losing *seats* to Reform, but... Labour are losing *votes* to the Greens Greens split the vote, Ref comes thru middle

A guess a lot people will be spending a lot of today checking some slowly changing numbers on a BBC webpage. If you enjoy that sort of thing and want it to be a more than annual occurrence - can I recommend getting into county cricket?

University of Herts not making any friends here.

Signed Authors' Photographs: Five Rare Photos for Collectors www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

‘Thanks, or just a voucher is fine’

Just come across this marvellous urban myth - Emily Dickinson's sister Lavinia invented onion rings.

This is a signed photo of Jack London at auction today at @swanngalleries.bsky.social - it's basically how I see myself.

Went to a very enjoyable event yesterday where the small bowls food was excellent, though I was given a small spoon to eat chunks of chicken which was a first for me.

My parents’ television set has given up the ghost. They are seriously considering not getting a replacement.

What exactly can a shed be? 🤔 Uncover how these small spaces have sparked big thinking, from inventions and literature to art and philosophy. The Philosophy of Sheds with @shedworking.bsky.social is available online and in store today. #BritishLibraryPublishing #NewBooks #Sheds #Gardenlovers

My latest book The Philosophy of Sheds is officially published today by the British Library @blpublishing.bsky.social. Available directly from them and everywhere good books are sold, ideally from your local independent bookseller.

I'm trying out something new this Saturday with a walk on the hidden muses of NYC sculpture, coinciding with the recent release of the Women's History of NY map I authored. Stop by! I'll have maps on hand, too www.eventbrite.com/e/hidden-mus...

‘Hawthorn’ Trees, 1963. Artist: SR Badmin May Day Bank Holiday Monday

Next Sunday I'll be giving an online lecture for The Last Tuesday Society on my @bodleian.ox.ac.uk book ✨Book Curses✨. I'll be talking about curses like that of John Wryghtson, which sits opposite some rather threatening illustrations of surgical instruments (Ox, St John's, MS 76, f. 5v).

This is my local (was in there yesterday for lunch). Very worried by Punch's talk of "substantial investment" which sounds like it will ruin it www.hertsad.co.uk/news/2606422...

Shed of the year 2026. 30 days left to enter. Latest entries – Hedgehogs, Mad machines and football on the telly unclewilco.substack.com/p/shed-of-th...

Nice! War Song of the Welsh, a refined taste in Machen clearly

At the Royal Albert Hall to hear my eldest boy’s choir accompany a showing of The Fellowship of the Ring. I did not realise you could get football shirt-style ‘Aragorn’ leisurewear but have already seen multiple examples proudly worn.

Writing about Dickens's son Henry today for a thing - he died after being hit by a motorbike in 1933 "while crossing Chelsea Embankment at his usual place and by his usual method of warning motorists by holding up his walking stick and stepping out into the road".

I'm going down a weird-shaped but familiar wormhole that changes every time you read a title – "The Philosophy of" by British Library Publishing thankfully now sheds a part. uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-ph... Beards, Coffee, Beer, and Cheese after Sheds Handy for Shed, Toilet or bus reading. #aff

New York International Antiquarian Book Fair: Five Rare Books for Collectors www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

Not long now until the third shed book comes out from my friend and Shedworking guru Alex Johnson @shedworking.bsky.social ) You can preorder from that place or, even better, from this place uk.bookshop.org/a/841/978071... Of course I'm waiting for a signed copy with a fiver in it

Begging HMRC to print "Don't worry, it's nothing bad" on their envelopes when the contents are not, in fact, anything bad.

Join us at our Ambleside campus one week today for this free talk on 'Vikings, Statesmen and Herdwicks: history and myth in the Lake District'. See link below for further details and to book a place 📚🍃

Next concert: Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, 7:30pm on Sat 27 June at St Albans Cathedral. Including the cathedral choir and guest conductor Daniel Hyde, with William Fox on the organ. Also Helen Charlston, Sam Furness, Gareth Brynmor John & Sinfonia Verdi. www.stalbanscathedral.org/Event/st-alb...

My friends created this little collection of poetry written by students in Gaza under unimaginable conditions. If anyone wanted to give it a boost they would be most grateful.

As some of you may already know, I used the phrase "the direction of travel" at a business meeting today during a discussion about an upcoming book project. That is not the me that I recognise and I will strive to do better going forward.

The Death of Spotify, or why streaming is "minutes away from becoming obsolete"

Nice touch from Trump to Vaffei there- pretty sure he said “You can win it”.