I am very sure he didn't

Watch out - millennials only put on that playlist that's all the different theme tunes of The Wire when they're very distressed open.spotify.com/playlist/54t...

soothing electro beats and an improvised monologue by a toddler: wp.me/p3g9wT-aZH

An enjoyable 1978 SF anthology topped by some cracking Ursula Le Guin: wp.me/p3g9wT-b0d

A very long title, a very good novel: wp.me/p3g9wT-aZX

The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk PART TWO returning to the second half of a recent beastly piece of historical fiction triumphofthenow.com/2026/06/04/t...

Recently, I re-read The Handmaid's Tale: wp.me/p3g9wT-aYw

More re-reading - triumphofthenow.com/2026/05/13/t...

My mate Jane has a showing of her art in Deptford later this month and you'd be a fool to miss it janefrancesdunlop.com

The second episode of BIG BALD BOOK CLUB is now streaming - on WUTHERING HEIGHTS: wp.me/p3g9wT-aKq

Still chasing genre highs that I worry I'll never find again: triumphofthenow.com/2026/05/07/t...

Spoken Word slash Performance Art slash Alternative Comedy... Exposing EVERYTHING again for one afternoon only www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...

Recently read the first half of the INCREDIBLE Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk (then had to pause because it's too physically big to travel with): triumphofthenow.com/2026/05/04/t...

excellent collection of nonfiction from a writer I'd never heard of (and maybe would have avoided if I'd read his Wikipedia page first): triumphofthenow.com/2026/04/28/f...

I read a book I erroneously believed was going to be about cannibalism: wp.me/p3g9wT-aIM

Re-read and loved Wuthering Heights. Might not leave it 20 years before I read it again: wp.me/p3g9wT-aHJ

My show got mentioned in the (long but not exhaustive!) list of shows included in a press release about this Summer's EdFringe: www.edfringe.com/about-us/new...

I read a very serious Irish children's novel about the Famine and then scheduled this screed for today without realising it was April Fools Day. No gags in here, I'm afraid: wp.me/p3g9wT-9Pq

A beautiful book about repetition that never feels repetitious (it's like the literary Groundhog Day one): wp.me/p3g9wT-9OC

Some very very very very very good stuff: wp.me/p3g9wT-9Oi

I read and loved Samuel Delany's treasure trove of characterisation, ambiguity and erotica: wp.me/p3g9wT-8ce

I re-read The Great Gatsby once again and it's still The "The Great" Great Gatsby: wp.me/p3g9wT-8bP

My thoughts on a recent pamphlet from @versobooks.bsky.social

As with his earlier book, How To Blow Up A Pipeline, Andreas Malm uses a provocative title yet measured text to present ideas that - in a better world - wouldn't be considered outré at all: wp.me/p3g9wT-8b7

Check me out on the latest episode of Sam Joseph's 'Comedians On People, Technology and Drugs': wp.me/p3g9wT-8bA

I read and was quite underwhelmed by the first book in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series: wp.me/p3g9wT-8az

I loved this - erotic devotionals, and an argument for – and evidence of – the eternal importance of Elvis… wp.me/p3g9wT-8a2

I read the excellent novella QUEEN by Birgitta Trotzig - recently re(?) published by @faberbooks.bsky.social wp.me/p3g9wT-8be

another great micro-chapbook from Tony White's Piece of Paper Press: triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/23/o...

new interview up on the blog with Patrick Hawkes about the novel The Unlit City: triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/20/i...

A couple of months ago I went to an excellent, concise, exhibition of the fictional maps of Ursula Le Guin. The accompanying publication is an enjoyable riff on the exhibition, though (for me) both neither tight nor loose enough to be as impactful: triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/18/t...

I read a haunting novel about the Earth being haunted by a brief extraterrestrial visit - Roadside Picnic (aka Stalker) by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/16/r...

A few weeks ago I interviewed a former member of the 1970s dance troupe Pan's People about her new memoir, a serious and sad exploration of abuse, addiction, exploitation and, thankfully, recovery and escape. A serious listen, if your kind of thing: triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/13/a...

Just received an email response from a job application I sent in 2018. lovely stuff.

I read a fun Soho picaresque about lives lived chasing literature and reflect on how, losing sight of that, few things can quite make the neon shine as bright: triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/09/t...

Trailer for 2026 live show here - Brighton and Glasgow tickets available now, London and other dates announced soon: triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/06/t...

read some classic fun, frothy, French fiction. Tho, the four musketeers are not great guys. triumphofthenow.com/2026/02/04/t...

i absolutely do not want to think about all i've achieved.

Read an incredible novel recently- So Much Blue by Percival Everett: triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/28/s...

some thoughts on a fun thriller i read on holiday last month: triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/26/t...

Is Charlaine Harris America’s only living novelist??? triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/21/d...

Read a breathtakingly brilliant collection of dirty realism-type stories by Ursula Le Guin: triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/19/s...

a disappointing finale to a disappointing trilogy that i read all of anyway: triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/14/t...

Continued my recent reading on the comedian Lenny Bruce - a funny, interesting autobiography, but containing a few gaps (as most memoirs do...): triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/12/h...

I read Hannah Arendt’s THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM, which is currently being re-serialised as “The News”: triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/09/t...

"But it is precisely by thus quoting an isolated line that one multiplies its power of attraction tenfold." #SundaySentence from The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright triumphofthenow.com/2015/10/22/t...

"Illness is the most heeded of doctors: to kindness and wisdom we make promises only; pain we obey." #SundaySentence from In Search of Lost Time IV, Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust, trans by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright triumphofthenow.com/2016/10/26/s...

Here is a really nice review of YOU RUIN IT WHEN YOU TALK that Scott wrote *before* we became friends triumphofthenow.com/2023/01/18/y...

Looking, quietly, ahead - triumphofthenow.com/2026/01/07/2... “2026 hopes/dreams/plans – Triumph Of The Now”