Fair to say our D&D game got a bit derailed this afternoon.

This is brilliant.

This makes me think of the artisanal communities that spring up around the Neo-Victorians in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, hand-making paper because it has more meaning than the 3D printed stuff.

This is a great piece by Tara Ariano and 'NCIS might be your opiate of choice if you prefer to see crimes solved navally' made me lol. defector.com/the-rockford...

I’ve written about Richard Gadd’s work as honestly as I can. This may not be popular.

Someone tell the yacht-smashing orcas that with this and that bullfighter getting a horn up his arse yesterday, the bar has been raised.

Today at the blog, @princejvstin.com asks @rjbarker.bsky.social , author of the forthcoming Mortedant’s Peril, about his Six Books www.nerds-feather.com/2026/04/6-bo... #blueskybooks #booksky

The richest man owns X. The second and fourth richest men control Google. The third richest man owns The Washington Post. The fifth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros. See the problem here?

Loved doing this. Mentions to @aptshadow.bsky.social and @jamesbluecat.bsky.social among others.

FAO @alasdaircameron.bsky.social‬

For some weird reason, '... if that even IS your real name!' is one of my favourite lines of dialogue and I have finally got to write it for realsies. *high fives self*

Tortoise Media has celebrated the one year takeover of the Observer by axing two photographers. They’d been with the paper for more than half a century. No notice, no warning, no pay off.

On a very rainy day in London a few weeks ago, I spent 45 minutes talking about spies, billionaires, and murder with Story Radio. You can listen to our conversation here. player.captivate.fm/episode/0d51...

“Russia can sustain extremely high levels of casualties and losses in human lives. They don’t care about people’s lives,” a Ukrainian officer told me. However, “it is painful for them to lose money.”

I thought this point Eric made about how libraries are early introductions to a social contract was really interesting, too:

Out tomorrow! A new DWM special including my interview with Steven Moffat about Night Of The Doctor, in which we discuss the original draft!

It's #buyastrangerabook day! @humanaqvi.bsky.social is offering to buy someone the book of their choice, up to £20! So if there's a particular book you're after, get in touch. UK only.

If they had stats in the margins, this guy was a wargamer, deffo.

If you’re looking for a possible explanation for the steady decline in Reform polling, it’s here: The economy has replaced immigration as the top issue for Brits in the latest Ipsos poll. Nov Immigration top issue 50% Reform share 33% April Immigration 32% Reform share 25%

I am so upset right now, TikTok quietly added a feature which turns on an AI feature on all the TikTok’s you have already posted to allow Ai to remix and make content of your TikTok’s and I didn’t know, you must go to privacy settings on your TikToks to turn it off yourself, want to warn others 💔

You will see lots of these Nazis pretending they’re sorry and they aren’t really Nazis over the next few years. They are doing this to continue to have access to a society that they fear will excommunicate them and give them the consequences they deserve for their abhorrent behaviour.

Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, Majorie Taylor Greene, Joe Rogan and those other podcast bros are all fascists who have simply recognised early that this will end badly for them if they don’t try to do some damage control now.

I've got a lot of time for the Greens, but I want to hear more actual policies from them on things like renewables and Net Zero, or security, on nature. I don't expect them to have all the answers at this stage, but simply repeating 'tax the billionaires, cut bills' doesn't do it for me I'm afraid.

If anyone was wondering how e.g. the national equality body came to be ram-packed with wingnut ideologues or how various regulatory henhouses came to be guarded by industry-insider foxes: we’re getting the speedrun version here, with a charity body. I imagine Stonewall will be fully pod-personed.

I don't think a Prime Minister should resign for a scandal that I don't properly understand and to be honest have somewhat lost interest in. I appreciate this new system has some flaws but I'm afraid we're going to have to learn to live with it.

Fascinated by proper pop icons like Robert Smith and Prince, who seem to have woken up one day, thought 'I have an idea for a Look' and just 100% nailed it. Like that Look was already out there and they just walked into it somehow.

Sudden fear I might suddenly find myself on a political podcast being asked for my opinion on the Starmer/Mandelson thing when I tuned out exactly 48hrs ago.

Absolutely sailed through it.

university is SUPPOSED to challenge your beliefs! unless of course your belief is that trans people are awful, in which case awwww poor ickle baby, did the nasty mean people exist near you, awwwww poor baby, here let me give you a book deal and a podcast so you can tell us how scared you were

In the era of "we must exclude trans people from playing sport, for Fairness" it's actually quite sickening for various media outlets to be all "check out out, a ROBOT won a marathon!"

Worth a follow: 'tax policy' sounds a bit dry, but covers a lot of important/interesting/dodgy stuff.

This painting, titled "L'escalier" (The Staircase), was created by French painter Marc Chalmé, known for his mastery of shadow and light, often compared to Vermeer. His work captures "still light" in landscapes, still lifes, and scenes like this.

I love this and would change, at most, 15% of it. Maybe lose the white grand piano and some of the rugs , but the rest is GREAT. *braces for the clattering hooves of the divorce horse*

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez: “Here in Spain, we are approving and advancing a process to regularise half a million immigrants. “And I want to say to the Right and the Far Right who oppose this: Spain is the daughter of migration and will not become the mother of xenophobia.”

If you consider men going to tate and rogan as equivalent to women going to feminism, you either have zero idea what you are talking about or you are a very bad manipulative propagandist

Not sure about this - has anyone ordered Pagan (in English) from France? Or is there somewhere you can generally order books in English from over there?

In light of recent acquisitions announcements (inc. @gen-dimova.bsky.social and @davegoodman.bsky.social !) we thought now would be a good time to remind you of our Solaris authors starter pack, where you can find all of the wonderful authors who have made it over to the Blue Side all in one place!

rereading Pagans by @jamesbluecat.bsky.social as little a treat and “friends of the aelves” remains my favourite fictional trans-normative description

Tax time is giving me flashbacks to my previous accounting sending me an email apologising, but she didn't really think a lego troll warship 'could realistically be put down as a business expense'.

The Wetland Project has been my favorite alternate-reality radio experience since it began. Since it only happens once a year, you can’t become accustomed to it. Close your eyes and be washed over by the sonic reality of an isolated bog on Saturna Island!

Has the Doctor ever pretended to be someone called 'Tim Lord'? Because if not, I'm having that. *reminds self to call BBC in the morning*

Finally got round to watching Dark Winds on Netflix: Native American (mostly) police procedural with a very subtle touch of supernatural horror. Zahn McClarnon is fantastic as the Navajo police lieutenant protagonist. Only two eps in and I'm riveted, delighted to see there are three seasons.

Still on the backer train for Omniboz - really hoping it makes it as this has one of my weirdest and most grotesque stories ever. www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/...

this is a microcosm of the world as conservatives want it, where “merit” means an unrestricted good ol’ boys club

WOIMSDAY

"Ideologically diverse": it's never "what % of income tax?" - and always "which women are worth raping?" and "what KIND of callipers?" Perhaps time to start treating Substack the way you would Gab or Truth Social "Ideologically," they're sharing a drink at the bar

Could MattGPT face scrutiny under the UK’s ‘proceeds of crime’ law? The British right is awash with money from Orban thinktanks…which Hungary’s new PM says was stolen. Brilliant deep dive into Orban’s vast UK network by @McCoolingtons for @thenerve_news. 👏

Well, here’s the thing: if you spend years taking crackpots seriously and vowing to take the Necessary Action, it’s really awkward if you have to then stop and say Actually, these recommendations are absolutely insane and we can’t do them without looking like we are also utterly deranged.

Pagans readers may enjoy:

'The Heritage Foundation used Orbán’s approach as the underpinning of Project 2025. The taking over of the Supreme Court. The cowering and controlling of the media. The attacks on educational and cultural institutions' chadbourn.substack.com/p/orban-out-...