How we do pensions and retirement income in this country is predicated on a few assumptions, one of which is that old people have minimal housing costs and/or security of tenure. It's not happening anymore, and will get worse. www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/the-other-...

I'm doing some walking tours of Seven Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social on Saturday Nov 15. Come for coffee, cheese, & overpriced street food, stay for overexcited historian, whistle stop tour of the Dials, & sideways look at 1920s and 1930s London. www.stanfords.co.uk/event-songs-...

Performatively watching videos of expensive robots falling over.

Our huge, heartfelt thanks to Sam Fender, who’s donated his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to Music Venue Trust... after already making sure £1 from every ticket on his recent tour went to support grassroots music venues.

Oh wow! A London Underground station being officially Listed is always great news - this one especially so. Southwark station, 1999 by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, has just been Listed at Grade 2. Now for the other JLE stations. @c20society.bsky.social historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-...

Indeed

Incompetence and failure is the objective.

First of two games for me today, starting with Arsenal v Chelsea women watching from enemy territory.

This is a good one!

My doctor didn’t say, listen to Fela Kuti albums every day, in order of release as best you can, and twice through at least for maximum Afrobeat. But it would’ve been splendid advice, because it’s increased the measure of joy in my life considerably.

I went on the hunt for London’s last remaining jukeboxes for The Times. You can probably guess where this ended. www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

Essential for anyone interested in London's histories.

@radiohead.wastehq.social reviewed: stunning return for rock’s radical chiefs Thom Yorke and co reviewed at Moviestar Arena, Madrid, November 4, 2025

I went on the hunt for London’s last remaining jukeboxes for The Times. You can probably guess where this ended. www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

I wrote a piece about London music halls for The Times ahead of an exhibition at The London Archive. @victorianlondon.bsky.social was among the contributors. www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

Carshalton has a new - INCREDIBLE - record shop @lookingforthemagic.bsky.social Really amazing stuff inside (and plenty of heykidsrocknroll.etsy.com goodness)

If you are looking for something spooky but also tuneful to watch tonight, my film All You Need Is Death, about a couple of musicologists who get themselves in trouble by recording a song that was never meant to be recorded, is available on many streamers; linktr.ee/paulduane

I'm sure I've posted these before at Halloween and I probably will again. This is a series of spirit photographs I inherited from my mum, who dealt in antiques and bric-a-brac in north-west England, collected all kinds of oddities and probably bought them at auction. 1/5

On the demolition of the East Wing and the USA's recrudescent belly-rubbing wahoo-yahoo architectural rampage

If you do find something useful in Songs of Seven Dials, I’d be really grateful if you could find the time to leave a review on Amazon (you don’t have to have bought the book there). It makes a real difference in getting books like this noticed.

Bush Hall has great acoustics and still holds performances, maybe not so different from its original purpose. Wilton's is still in use too

Interested in the history of Seven Dials or London or the 1920s and 1930s? I'm doing some walking tours of the Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social on Sat 15 Nov. There's loads to see, but Seven Dials is so small you don't need to walk far. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/events/songs...

I met Don McCullin at an exhibition of his work 15 years ago and his obvious despair at the horror and futility of what he witnessed was profound.

I wrote a piece about London music halls for The Times ahead of an exhibition at The London Archive. @victorianlondon.bsky.social was among the contributors. www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

UK-based followers. Is any of you privileged enough to live in a constituency still held by the Conservative Party? If yes, would you be up for contacting your MP to see if their response to a short question is similar/the same to one I just received from *my* Tory MP? If so, please DM me.

This is tremendous from @steviechick.bsky.social - pull up a comfortable chair. (Can't help feeling he should probably just write a book about Husker Du!) thequietus.com/interviews/h...

Very pleased to receive this new book by Daniel Rachel - a catalogue of Rock’s flirtation with fascist symbolism that builds into a relentless polemic. Important and timely

Judging by early reactions to the Electric Nebraska 82 box set, my review for Uncut is holding up pretty well. This is amazing music and a great package. www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/albu...

A friend and I were saying last week that AI would be great if it wasn’t being launched into a hypercapitalist hellscape

Alright Bobcats, just a little reminder that I will be joining Travis Elborough at my fave pub on Saturday to talk all things Street Legal, an album I've loved since I was 17. I will be bringing my Dylan encyclopedia! I may even recite some Sam Shepard! There will definitely be beer! Join us!

I had a stroll round Seven Dials with historian Matt Houlbrook (@tricksterprince.bsky.social) to talk the locations, people and stories behind his fantastic new book, Songs Of Seven Dials. www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

Brand awareness.

The Daily Star's livestream of the Liz Truss lettuce has been acquired by the British Film Institute's National Archive for a collection of significant pieces of online video. The BFI's curator said it was "a seminal moment in British political history" www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-...

The old forge in Denmark Place in 1908, later the 12 Bar and now The Lower Third.

Just bought a pint for £5.75. This feels like a win.

These are not good numbers on bias for the BBC - taken from their Our BBC, Our Future survey with 872,701 respondents.

Meta, play my hype playlist

My five star review of Electric Nebraska in Uncut. I thought it was boss. www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/albu...

My five star review of Electric Nebraska in Uncut. I thought it was boss. www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/albu...

Withnail and I at All is Joy in Soho with a Martin Green DJ set. Tomorrow night. You should come! www.rebelreelcineclub.com/screenings/p...

A gorgeous thing to own.

Hmmmm www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

Happy bookshop day to @stanfordstravel.bsky.social! I’m excited to be doing some walking tours of #20s30s seven dials with them in November. Watch this space!

New video: Rob Caiger of Nice Records talks about uncovering lost master tapes and restoring classics by Small Faces @roomforravers.bsky.social and Humble Pie. Caiger reveals how Kenny Jones' archive and much more is being brought back to life #smallfaces www.youtube.com/watch?v=p39y...

RIP John Lodge of The Moody Blues. Earlier this year, he and his bandmates talked to Uncut about the making of "Question" – their dual-speed No 2 hit that thrilled festival crowds and then calmed them down. “It was like the waves on the beach...” www.uncut.co.uk/features/the...

Just a last few tix left for our Pentangle Listening Party with Jacqui McShee tomorrow afternoon at the Half Moon in Putney. Thanks to Jennie Bellestar for some promo at her fab Give Me Love vintage shop in Camden 💜 tickets.halfmoon.co.uk/events/2025-...

This CD will be amazing. And if that's not reason enough to buy, I'm inside chatting to Billy Childish and Holly Golightly, listening to Donovan talk about the making of "Hurdy Gurdy Man", watching the new Warren Ellis documentary and reviewing Electric Nebraska (spoiler alert: holy shit!).

Sir John Soane described the Bank of England building he designed as ‘the pride and boast of my life’, but in 1925 his masterpiece was demolished to make way for Herbert Baker’s bigger but more boring vision, writes @willwiles.bsky.social

Our guided walk of the musical history of London's Soho this Saturday - 11 Oct - takes in Bowie, Beatles, punk, jazz, Pulp and much else. Free to attend, but donations invited for Centrepoint homeless charity.

The Conservative Party conference has been a useful reminder that yes, astonishing as that may seem, things could actually be worse.