So delighted with getting our boiler fixed (new condensate pump) after "only" three days with no hot water, that I've *even* filled in a customer care survey.

This looks great.

Question, please: if you're self-employed, and working from home, what percentage of your home mortgage and bills etc are you okay to claim as an expense?

Honestly, I'm about to waste a £60 ticket for the BRILLIANT French singer Zaho de Sagazan, from 7pm at the Palladium. Please can someone take it. I can't make it. She is amazing. I'm gutted.

Has anyone been on a silent retreat who fancies telling me about it?

I still have one ticket to see Zaho de Sagazan tonight at the London Palladium. Anyone want it? I can offer it for a pittance.... LMK

A good day to listen to our proud, joyous history of the BBC: One of the greatest British inventions of the 20th Century. An institution which, even at its worst, is far better than its detractors podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I need to sell two tickets for Zaho de Sagazan on Tuesday night as I have a deadline. She's amazing. Palladium. Any takers? secure.ticketmaster.co.uk/rs/3700628F0...

😂

The night I really wish I lived in a tall block of flats and miss our home from 20!! years ago, which had the best fireworks watching roof top.

Huge boost for New York tourism.

this is a brilliant idea 👇

If you can't get tickets for the Almeida's The Line of Beauty (adapted by Jack Holden), worry not, well, worry a bit, but book for Kenrex instead, which Holden wrote and stars in. You will not regret. And/or read my FT interview with Jack Holden. www.ft.com/content/de45...

There's a novel about this - that's the beauty of books - there is always a novel about something. Charlotte McConaghy's The Last Migration. Recommend.

Would anyone like to buy my two very good standing tickets for the Magic Flute at the ROH on Thursday 30 October? £20 each.

I want to be someone who signs their emails "Kindest" but I... can't.. .. yet I think I am generally a kind person. Maybe not the very kindest one though.

Fab publisher, pls help if you can.

Am still not sure why I succumbed and bought two (both negative - neither was for me...)

In response to popular demand (well, one person - you know who you are), the cryptic crossword Peckham pub dates for November and December are Nov 11th and Dec 9th. The others are also meeting tomorrow, with my apologies for not being there as a book event calls.

Almost half of adults are not regularly reading by choice. @susiemesure.bsky.social reviews Ann Morgan’s new book ‘Relearning to Read’.

She is the cat in Flow. She even tried to get round the back of the telly to get in the boat.

This story - see also @londoncentric.media - is really upsetting and just awful. I emailed Neil Coyle MP just now to urge him to intervene - so should YOU.

THE SECRET PROJECT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS IS FINALLY LIVE CHECK IT OUT outsidersartsclub.com

Almost half of adults are not regularly reading by choice. @susiemesure.bsky.social reviews Ann Morgan’s new book ‘Relearning to Read’.

Sharing this lovely post from Richard Godwin's The Spirits - not even sure he's on here, am sure he gave up the stupor of these places years ago to do more (always very good) writing for actual money. open.substack.com/pub/thespiri...

I am actually in this book club. I even wrote about it here. www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/b...

If you want a read to mark this - try Brigitte Reimann's Siblings.

“This morning, Germany is one nation again.” This is how BBC Breakfast News reported on German reunification, 35 years ago today.

Of course I read this here, in something of a stupor, at 6am.

'Peckham Fruit Juices' by Mark Pearson markpearsonartist.com

100% this. I used to buy a coffee out maybe once a week at most. Now it's more like monthly... Happy to report my 17yo takes (my) thermos of instant to school. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Got to say, it's ***** from my 10yo, who is on her second listen already. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

Yes, Sarah Hall, who was robbed of a Booker listing IMO.

Oooh, Elizabeth Taylor, Taylor? Is that a song about the writer?

I could lose days reading down this reply thread.

Tell me, then, why there aren't more signees? Helen Mirren, yes, but where are the other British Greats? PS go Jane, whom I saw talk with Lily Tomlin at the University of Michigan about better pay for waiters - they were awesome.

What I really wanted more of (in this extremely enjoyable Tom Hollander interview) was detail about the nervy adjustment of "the three tape recorders", because last week I just relied on my phone voice recorder and felt like a loser. (By @janinegibson.ft.com ) www.ft.com/content/2a02...

Your teen may have a broken nose. Do you a) rush to a busy London A&E for an x-ray? b) just ice it? c) get it x-rayed in the morning (when it will be quieter....)?

Some gems on dealing with feedback here at this early hour. (The feedback from my cat is I *still* didn't give him his biscuits early enough...) www.ft.com/content/bdcd...

Journalist friends, please respond to the UK government's consultation on late payments and poor practices. The NUJ has responses to help your submission. This is an important opportunity for every freelance journalist. #StopTheFreelanceRipOff: nuj.org.uk/resource/stop-the-freelance-rip-off.html

Can anyone spare any £ for legal fees for the October hearing?

Peckham is fighting Berkeley Homes's plans to build a huge tower block development on Rye Lane with 16 densely packed blocks up to 20 stories high. Just 50 of the 867 new homes are allocated as social housing. Southwark Council said no but it's going to appeal. www.crowdjustice.com/case/acapeck...

🚨 Kenrex, which remains the best play I’ve seen so far this year, is getting a bigger run from December.

I love snippets into writer’s formative lives: here, that Alan Hollinghurst read Lord of the Rings six times successively.

Was hoping to switch between reading The Line of Beauty and listening to it but… the audio… I just can’t. Alex Jennings narrating….

Japan has an entire magazine that is just cat manga. I think @philipsimon.bsky.social needs this for research.

Missed this story about Lebedev begging Musk for money for the Standard. Vile. Via @londoncentric.media

Five alarm fire. Goodbye Jimmy Kimmel, @karenattiah.bsky.social — and press freedom. Follow @rbreich.bsky.social if you don’t already to see how all this works. observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

I gave my heart and soul to that place. Built entire sections for journalists pushed out of their home countries. When the writer I hired, Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi Arabia, they paraded me around as a symbol for press freedom. I put MY LIFE on the line to defend journalism and WaPo.

oof