Still in shock the next day, this was what I wrote about it. medium.com/@petepaphide...

Commission me for more work in 2026! davidbarnett.wordpress.com/contact/

Returning PIP awards to pre-pandemic levels could save taxpayers £750m a year according to right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange Read more: trib.al/bDdYAU0

Room for one more end-of-year chart? Here are the 50 that helped define 2025 for me.

A must-see thread. Don't sleep on reading (or listening to) the ALT-Text.

Perry Bamonte, guitarist and keyboardist for the Cure, dies aged 65

John Robertson, Nottingham Forest and Scotland legend, dies aged 72

Folk horror klaxon! SCRATCH MOSS is now available for review request on Netgalley, just in time for Christmas! www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

Some signs of progress on NPR, which was meant to be unveiled at the spending review, then conference, then the budget. But when it does surface, suspect it may be light on detail as.ft.com/r/bdec77e4-3...

So… on 5-7 June we’ll be celebrating 50 years of The Fall at The Band on the Wall, Manchester. What a weekend we have in store for sure! For those who’ve been ‘Waitin’ for the Worm’ we have some strictly limited Early Bird Weekend Passes available NOW! All Passes available here: tinyurl.com/y7xexv9s

We have @sleafordmods.bsky.social coming by on 17th January for a signing. Pre-orders for this event are live now, and if you can’t make it, you can pre-order a signed album to be shipped or picked up at a later date. @roughtraderecords.bsky.social beartreerecords.com/products/sle...

Joyous, defiant & full of sense of the times: here's my end of year op-ed about the amazing CMAT www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Flamboyant, furious and full of hope: CMAT is the sound of 2025 | John Harris

“A generous two-and-a-quarter-hour set at a venue recently praised by Buck is an immersive experience” - Drink The Sea at @nathbrudenell.bsky.social review for @yorkshirepost.co.uk www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

We've had some great interviews up on the site this year, and this, our final for 2025, is one of them. Stewart Lee jumps on a zoom call with Canadian free rock group EarthBall but then a breakdown in communication leads to a meditation on improvisation... Ln1k in thared

Oh hey, it's nearly Christmas, why not treat yourself to a ticket to this gig I'm doing next May, eh? I'm reliably informed by the venue that tickets are doing well, even though it's just shy of 5 months away & I've not even printed posters yet. Don't sleep on it: www.seetickets.com/event/pye-co...

Albums of the year as chosen by @yorkshirepost.co.uk writers www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Supergroup Drink The Sea play at @nathbrudenell.bsky.social tonight - they spoke to @yorkshirepost.co.uk about their debut double album www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Excellent interview with the fabulous Toni Basil in today's Guardian. Some of the videos mentioned are in the thread below www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

We've teamed up with @prsformusic.bsky.social for their Early Career Promoters Fund 🎉 We'll be championing the talent of five selected promoters for #IVW26. Super excited to share details of the first two shows that have been announced by Variations and Manchester Improvisation Festival...💛

When I interviewed Toni Basil in 2021 we both marvelled at the fact that no-one had made a movie or documentary of her life. They still haven’t. Plus, if it was a movie she’d be able to choreograph her own life story. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

“We were always happy and showed that we enjoyed it, rather than all the doom and black ice” - @amhurst.bsky.social talks to @yorkshirepost.co.uk about 40 years of Ghost Dance www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Albums of the year as chosen by @yorkshirepost.co.uk writers www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Close up with Broadcast in '96 and '97.

“I definitely can hear a lot of his presence in the songs” - @drinkthesea.bsky.social talk to @yorkshirepost.co.uk about their ‘spirit totem’ Mark Lanegan www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

"The first of the evening’s new songs, Communication, offers a glimpse of where they’re headed, with its rubbery bassline and looser feel" - @everyonesayshi.bsky.social at @nathbrudenell.bsky.social reviewed for @yorkshirepost.co.uk www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

“I definitely can hear a lot of his presence in the songs” - @drinkthesea.bsky.social talk to @yorkshirepost.co.uk about their ‘spirit totem’ Mark Lanegan www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Welcome to Britain, a country so short of dentists that an MP's 87-year-old mum pulled her teeth out with pliers. Also a country with thousands of foreign-qualified dentists who can’t work until they pass an exam so oversubscribed it’s like trying to book Glasto tickets. www.ft.com/content/f4e5...

There are distinct mirroring elements to this story, to what happened at 6Music over a year ago (and was mostly pushed through). This really is a must read, and thanks must be given to @constantfollower.bsky.social for persisting in keeping the pressure up.

"It really does feel like you blink and we’re into late 30s, and we’ve been 20 years into doing these things, but I guess that’s the sign of a good time" - Mat Welsh looks back on two decades of While She Sleeps for @yorkshirepost.co.uk www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Last Christmas I wrote about 40 years of Last Christmas and growing up with it for @thequietus.com It also turned out that last Christmas would be the last Christmas for me and the home I grew up in. thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

"I would not be doing this if it weren’t for having accidentally stumbled across a TV show where Billy Joel was playing in Russia when I was a kid" - @ricneale.bsky.social talks to @yorkshirepost.co.uk www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

Latest from me: on the budget, Labour's troubles, & the government's increasingly tense & distant relationship with the UK's squeezed middle www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Biggest news of the day for me was the launch of this new day fest in Leeds at The Old Woollen... and this is just first wave! 🙌

Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent, dies aged 88

This is an excellent, level-headed, informative piece. I'd kill for a government which could discuss the issue with the same sense of objectivity and calm.

The Yorkshire Post has a Black Friday subscription. Get a full year of @yorkshirepost.co.uk for just £1 a month for 12 months and unlock full access to premium reporting and insightful analysis for less than the cost of a coffee. Subscribe now at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/subscriptions

Life takes a surreal turn when you wake up and your band has been featured in Post-Punk.com. 😳 post-punk.com/glisten-tric...

"I do think very much what I’ve become is a result of having met those two guys and the single-mindedness of that outfit" - Warren Ellis talks to @yorkshirepost.co.uk about Dirty Three, the Bad Seeds, the documentary Ellis Park and his book Nina Simone's Gum www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

One in seven English bathing spots rated as polluted in latest testing

“A judiciously chosen set pares down the catalogue to perhaps their 19 best songs which Arm delivers brilliantly in either an Iggy Pop-like drawl or full-throated rasp” - The Saints 73-78 at Project House, Leeds review for @yorkshirepost.co.uk www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/art...

House Of All are the latest band to join the bill for the Louder Than War Live festival next March. With Sea Power, Evil Blizzard, Benefits, Immersion, Plantoid and many more to be announced. Tickets selling fast so hurry! louderthanwar.com/louder-than-...

The Telegraph’s BBC hypocrisy Follow Sam Bright on Substack. He specialises in exposing dark money and the trends in the far right full of charlatans open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

This time last week we were right in the thick of it! A fabulous weekend of books, music, conversation and more! You coming to #Louder2026? We have Early Bird Weekend Passes available here: tinyurl.com/2ttdb255 13-15 November, The Innside, Manchester 👍👏❤️

Announcing details of the launch event for Paul Coventry's book Our Last Stand: 17th December, Featherstone Library and Community Centre. There is limited capacity at the launch, so you'll need to email to book your place. See this link for more details:

Blimey! A week ago already! What a Friday night we had at Louder Than Words Festival! Come join us in 2026, 13-15 November at The Innside, Manchester Early Bird Passes for 2026 available here: tinyurl.com/2ttdb255

Sending BIG love to the family and friends of David McLenachan, a much respected Louder Volunteer, whos funeral took place today. David was a brilliant photographer and the team will really miss him. MND has much to answer for… ❤️❤️❤️❤️