Just half an hour in to Frankenstein: Tokyo Drift and I feel like it really badly wants to be a musical, in fact I think it should have been

Writers are too precious about not repeating the same word in successive sentences. It is actually fine to employ identical terms in consecutive grammatical units

I read the Booker Prize shortlist (again). Rum do, this year - but not uninterestingly. On the bourgeois novel:

there are some questions you just shouldn't ask

this story is absolutely wild – taz reports that tens of thousands of euros in Berlin public funds, designated for "combatting antisemitism", have apparently been paid out to some... extremely questionable companies [I would use a stronger word if I weren't afraid of German defamation law]

It’s giving 2009 post-hardcore album

A very moving piece (as is G's novel Poor Ghost, that takes up this story more fully, and appeared earlier this year)

I have a ticket for the sold-out Tortoise gig at Barbican on 22nd November and I can't make it. Would anybody like the ticket? I paid around £47, but I would accept whatever you can afford.

in a good mood today

Political hope is the best feeling in the world. I haven’t felt like this since the early stages of Bernie 2020 and the UK general election in 2017.

Londoners, who remembers that briefly omnipresent ad that was like ‘Hey, I’m Pip, watch me revolutionise social’? What was it and did it revolutionise social?

tonight!

Me: I want to pursue a life of the mind The life of the mind: I will employ good manual handling techniques and maintain appropriate posture while handling luggage

Getting back into the academic groove (filling out an 18-page travel risk assessment form)

Can anyone recommend writing (journalistic or academic) on changes in the US TV and film industries in the past 5 or so years? Ie, on the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, influence of venture capital etc. Thanks!

Can anyone recommend writing (journalistic or academic) on changes in the US TV and film industries in the past 5 or so years? Ie, on the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, influence of venture capital etc. Thanks!

Off to find out whether anything can change my longstanding aversion to the films of Yorgos Lanthimos

’In 2015, if you said, “I heard it on a podcast,” you were trying to sound smart. In 2025, it’s better to lie.’ Loved this essay by Brace Belden in @thebaffler.com, maybe the best thing I’ve read about the podcast form

They're going to take away "Andrew" too.

’In 2015, if you said, “I heard it on a podcast,” you were trying to sound smart. In 2025, it’s better to lie.’ Loved this essay by Brace Belden in @thebaffler.com, maybe the best thing I’ve read about the podcast form

They’re centuries ahead of us.

A student to me just now: ‘You always flame me for my handwriting but yours is also not that good.’

Enjoyed this review of Zadie Smith’s new essay collection by @houmanbarekat.bsky.social

…become?

I've pledged not to write for the NYT until it reviews its anti-Palestinian bias, retracts "Screams Without Words," and calls for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel. I'm honored to join Catherine Lacey, Kiese Laymon, Sally Rooney, and many more in this www.boycottdivestunsubscribe.com/opinion-boyc...

Solidarity with the @pcsunion.bsky.social workers at the British Library who are on strike this week and next. I've been going to the library for over a decade, the staff are the ones who make it the space it is - they need to be respected and, importantly, paid enough for the all the work they do

Please kill me

last week @ minor lits ... — Dimitris Lyacos interviewed by Toti O’Brien minorliteratures.com/2025/10/21/e... — Experimental prose from @gabrielflynn.bsky.social (open on desktop or enable desktop view for full effect) minorliteratures.com/2025/10/23/f...

Dann wissen die McKinsey Kunden jetzt, wo ihr Geld so bleibt OpenAI gratuliert zu 100 Milliarden Tokens

big fan of ferrets these days but back in 2009 when Naked Rob moved into my living room uninvited and brought his three ferrets, I wasn’t pleased

A piece I wrote about my dad, who died 20 years ago today. Published by The White Review in 2020. www.thewhitereview.org/fiction/rock...

A piece I wrote about my dad, who died 20 years ago today. Published by The White Review in 2020. www.thewhitereview.org/fiction/rock...

Horrifying and fascinating to hear about the habits of Zoomer tech bros

There's still time to sign up for today's Personal Anthology, in which Tim MacGabhann picks and introduces a dozen favourite stories. Some doozies in there, some surprises and old favourites and even a sneak preview! Hitting inboxes at 2pm, sign up and share! apersonalanthology.substack.com/about

I wrote about writing about a long ago trip to Faslane Peace Camp, very happy to see it published today by the excellent @minorliteratures.bsky.social. Read on desktop because the formatting is important!

I wrote about writing about a long ago trip to Faslane Peace Camp, very happy to see it published today by the excellent @minorliteratures.bsky.social. Read on desktop because the formatting is important!

RIP Philip Larkin, you would have loved Pornhub, vaping and GB News

Fascinating investigation into the global context behind the expansion of Gail’s and its terrible labour practices, very worthwhile read

“The creative writing racket—with its MFA pipelines, workshop fetishism and middle-class etiquette—has taught a generation of writers to conflate criticism with cruelty and originality with CV-building.” @minorliteratures.bsky.social NOW SERVING BEEF

It’s been nearly two weeks since we went on strike at The Berliner (@exberliner.bsky.social). We haven’t heard a single word from management.

Really enjoyed the latest episode of @prorevsoccer.bsky.social on football and Palestine solidarity, full of useful ideas for players and fans

I’m going to be writing about police violence against #Palestine demos in #Berlin for the LRB. I’m keen to speak to anyone who has been effected, or who has other insight or expertise they wish to share (lawyers, court observers, etc)

I have two new pieces up at @publicdomainrev.bsky.social this week: first, about the human-animal hybrids of Louis XIV's court painter Charles le Brun... publicdomainreview.org/collection/l...

Have hardly read anything since the fire because I can’t concentrate amid all the disruption and stress but am now very slowly reading this beautiful novel.

My football club has a brand new women‘s team and they‘re recruiting players. Affordable membership fees, pro coaches, regular training and games. Please share with any Berlin friends who might want to play football in a friendly, & LGBTQ+ inclusive environment. Newcomers and returners welcome.

last wasps of the season crawling sadly over the doughnuts at the coffee stand on Hermannstraße S-Bahn platform

this is such a brilliant and insightful interview, highly recommend