I am a medieval historian!! The world always is in a state, it has never not been in a state, joy and delight and beauty is what humanity exists for

Author William Peter Blatty once won $10,000 on You Bet Your Life. When Groucho Marx asked what he planned to do with the money, he said he planned to take some time off to work on a novel. The result was The Exorcist (1973).

PSA 😎

Janis Goodman (American Artist, born 1951) "Breathing Space", 2023. Etchings & Engravings on Paper, 30 × 50 cm. Private Collection. #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

My favourite t shirt has this design printed on it, I wear it all the time. I love that Roger got the blessing of Le Guins estate to use this quote. The tree is perfect.

It has long been my view that decisions regarding State pension age shouldn't just be made by people who have worked in offices all their life, and who live in postcodes with high life expectancy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell has been in my head the last few days

Given that we are talking about the utter bonkersness of people not reading Prologues and Epilogues, would anyone like to share their favourites? Mine's Middlemarch (though she calls them 'Prelude' and 'Finale'). The tiniest shift to second person at the end of the Finale is beautifully done.

FFS.

I was, but he kept on banging on about some bloody sledge.

"I wrote a novel using AI" is a nonsense sentence.

You wrote a novel using AI? Cool. It's like that time I ran a marathon using a Ford Focus.

Awww, welcome back, Mamaclanger.

Introducing In Your Spare Time: A Podcast of the Blog of Ursula K. Le Guin! inyoursparetime.libsyn.com

Gen A.I. barons want us talkinge alone on our phones to a demon thei created, and not goinge places and being wyth each othir yn art and joy and communitye. Thei want cinemas to shut downe and broadwaye to go darke. Thei want wryteres to stop writinge. Thei want to build hell and have us pay for it.

Brian Glover also played God in Tony Harrison's reworking of the mystery plays. God the Creator, in a boiler suit, driving a forklift and intoning, in the way only he could: "NOWT IS BUT I..." (I AM THAT I AM, for the RP AV crowd...)

Well, at least he sounds like the kind of storm you could have a pint with... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

My God this is bad stuff. Poorly written, poorly conceived, and, in the face of this, dispiriting in its confidence. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Early stroll. The silver necklace of a snail’s trail. A flickering TV behind curtains. I am walking with the ghost of an old stroll. Birdsong teeters on the edge of silence. A bloke asks what time it is, tapping his wrist.

There are LOLs within...

Fundamentally, people who use AI to write books don't bloody know what a book actually is.

Let's kill two birds with one stone and cancel the Royal visit to the US AND cancel the monarchy.

I once worked for a headteacher who I'm certain was a narcissist. Trump is bringing it all back: every step in the playbook. I was a teacher governor, & this Supreme Court thing reminds me of how he'd attend every governors' meeting, texting throughout, entirely there just to glower & intimidate.

No fan of Starmer in a bunch of ways, but it is good to see a Prime Minister say out loud that Brexit f*cked us up. Fed up of dancing around the bleeding obvious to appease whatever and whoever it has been felt needed appeasing at the expense of a bunch of good stuff over the last decade.

Solidarity with all workers fighting for their rights. If you're not in a union, join one immediately ✊✊✊✊✊

If you were to show someone from 15 years ago any news feed today, I wonder what proportion of it they would assume is April Fools stuff.

One of the most important books I own. The disparity of opinion in the final section - transcripts of the calls to the Ch 4 switchboard when V was first screened - tells you a whole bunch of stuff about our nation, then and now. This, and anything by Neil Astley at Bloodaxe, is a great way into TH.

The complete takeover of culture by AI is not inevitable. There is constant, committed & sizeable pushback. techcrunch.com/2026/03/30/b...

Fair play from the Mail. I said what I said.

Headline writers crossing all their fingers that whatever Scott Mills did it was dark and satanic

The Star Wars movies are being given cinema re-releases from August, with Rogue One mid September. I am thinking I may rewatch Andor to finish it on the day I then go to see Rogue One.

My work is not AI. I am a person, writing using my mind and hands. I think that still matters.

Roses are red Violets are blue Jessica Mitford playing Boggle With Maya Angelou

“The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich.” ~ John Berger (1926-2017) #Painting by John Berger.

Sunset’s red carpet For evening to walk on.

I saw Mary Rand qualify for the 1964 Olympics at Longford Park stadium, Stretford.

Great movie. Great soundtrack.

And formally, according to our law, Depose him

Little boy on the tube: Bell-end. His mum: I'm sorry? What do you think that means? Little boy: I don't know but it sounds pretty.

This is sad. This stuff matters. Fabric and material matter; object and metaphor. Thread to needle, needle to fabric. Tells of hope.

Tongue-in-cheek comments on here about Ireland and Wales boycotting the World Cup are running full tilt into a wall of people who have not been following their qualification campaigns.

Tomorrow. Join us! Me n Naomi are a great double act. I've interviewed her at least four times but we've never done it this way round and i can't wait. Always nice to be in York too, booked the day off for a proper jolly.

Painting created 1974, in the art therapy studio at Netherne hospital, Surrey, by an individual who was compelled to live there, currently identified to us only as Francesca.

👇

This is gonna be absolutely awesome. Anyone coming?

Yes — “The older I get, the more I realize, I don’t want a busy life. I want a deep life. Slow mornings. Focused work. Calm people. Meaningful progress. Good books. A quiet mind at night. Nothing flashy. Nothing trendy. Just a life that feels good to live. Depth over noise. That'll do.“ Karun Pal

A poem that never fails to make my soul ache. • James Wright •

This is utterly jaw-dropping. A school that bans Atwood, Zadie Smith, Terry effing Pratchett and *literal George Orwell* is actively harming its pupils. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...